Blade of Hope
by Chronicle of Hope
Summary: This is the tale of when a different MC gets sent to the world of RE:zero and allies himself with a certain greedy candidate. Tragedy, hilarity, and badass-ery ensue. I don't own Re:zero or any of the characters.*On Hiatus*
1. A Harsh and Sudden Beginning

"Augh…" I groaned as I trudged back to my dorm from my college's indoor theatre. I was dressed in a pair of jeans, a "Hard Rock Café London" T-shirt, and a loose sweater to combat the Fall night chill. My backpack was slung over my right shoulder and my other hand held my precious 5-pound script. I had washed off all of my make-up and said goodbye to everybody who was staying a little later as I left, so I was currently alone on the cement walkways that crisscrossed the campus. It wasn't a horribly long walk and the pleasant scenery that my college was known for comforted me a little but my current condition didn't help my mood. I currently felt like shit as I dragged my sorry-ass back to my room at around midnight. As I had every night for about a week. The weekend of our performances of "West Side Story" was this weekend. It was currently Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning, I couldn't tell which, and I really didn't care all that much. All I knew was that this Jet needed sleep. Badly.

As I passed under the fluorescent lights, which cast a cheerful out of place glow on the pavement, I began to hear the sound of voices. I stopped listening as it sounded like a crowd was nearby but so far away that I couldn't hear a single thing they said. I turned my head left and right as the noise got louder and as it got louder I noticed my vision started to go blurry. It looked like images were flashing in front of my eyes at such a speed that I couldn't keep up and I quickly rubbed my eyes hoping to get rid of this effect. As my mind wondered if I was having a heart attack or stroke at the young age of 22, the voices grew to such a degree that I could have sworn that I was in the middle of it. I could make out the occasional word and it sounded like people were walking all around me. When I finished rubbing my eyes and looked up, I was immediately blinded by a great light. I stumbled back and bumped into what felt like a stone wall and shielded my eyes with my arms. When my eyes finally adjusted to the light a bit and I saw the scene that was around me, my arms (and jaw) immediately dropped and I stood agape at the view in front of me.

I was on the outskirts of a crowd, but it was unlike any I had ever seen, only imagined. I was on the side of a large courtyard which was home to a number of stalls and wagons set up with an incredible variety of goods that I had never seen before. The sun shone bright on the stone buildings that surrounded the courtyard but the midday sun was in just a perfect position that o shadow was cast on the courtyard itself. But what freaked me out more was the occupants of the courtyard. There were normal humans thankfully, but also pretty much every kind of demi-human species that any fiction writers had ever come up with; lizardmen, beast-men, hobbits, half-orcs, and many others. And that was just in this single courtyard! They were all dressed in medieval clothing but not the stiff historically accurate kind, no, they wore the kind that looked like it had come straight out of a game of dnd. Many of the females wore dresses that went down past their knees, with large hats, and often accompanied by children. The men wore baggy pants that went to about their shins and a thin T-shirt, a vest, or just nothing at all on their chest. The courtyard appeared to be a home for a market and the sound of people talking was deafening. I stood awestruck at the scene for who knows how long, until a young lady came up to me with a slightly worried expression on her face.

"Are you okay, sir? You've been standing there with your mouth open for a while now…"

She said as she eyed me rather cautiously. I was taken out of my shock her words and quickly turned towards her, still shocked that any of this was happening. As I turned towards her I must have had quite the expression on my face because she suddenly took a step back and continued to eye me suspiciously. She was dressed in a light blue dress adorned with a number of white frills that fell around her ankles and her light brown hair was tied into one large braid that nearly touched the ground behind her. When I noticed her slightly scared expression I realized that I must seem like a freak dressed how I am and standing around, saying nothing, for a long time. I quickly tried to make myself seem as normal as possible by laughing off her worry and trying to calm myself down as well by saying:

"Oh! Sorry I didn't see you there. But you don't need to worry about me I'm just fine. I was just awestruck by the beauty of this fine establishment! Now! If you'll excuse me. I have to go."

I then ran off in the opposite direction of where she came from, hoping that she wouldn't follow. The last I saw of her was her shocked face after my outburst and then I had melted into the crowd. I ran through the crowd, bumping into practically every person I passed, and thus earning quite a few shoves and smacks from them. I ran until I saw a nice empty alley, though I had probably passed a number of them in my panic, and I rushed into the alley. I staggered to the wall and whether it was from running or from the panic of my entire situation I hurled out all of the food I had eaten in the last day. I barfed for a number of minutes until there was nothing left and then I still dry-heaved for a number of minutes. I eventually backed away from the pool of my barf and slumped against the opposite wall. I was breathing heavily and I could hear my heart pounding like a cymbal in my ear. I held my hands over my ears and tried to calm down. 'Calm down. Calm down, Conor. Take a breath and _think._ " I mumbled to myself as my mind went into overdrive to try to understand my situation. Eventually I was able to calm down enough to be able to look at my situation somewhat rationally. I thought back to everything that had happened and made some assumptions based on that. 1) I was no longer on any place on earth. 2) I was in a world where demi-humans were a thing. 3) I was in a civilization that appeared to be in a medieval stage, although it seemed to be a more advanced medieval age than earth's, judging by the nice clothing worn by who I could only assume were the peasantry. 4) My clothing and looks, although odd, didn't appear to be otherworldly to the people of this world. 5) I could understand the language just fine and seemed to be able to communicate back. I wrote all of these down in a small notebook and made room for more. After having done this I let a sigh of relief out and sat down against the wall, glad to have some sense of control in the situation. After sitting there for a short while I stood up, made sure my backpack was securely closed, and stepped out into the bright sunlight, my mind somewhat prepared for anything that might come my way. I am hoping my years of reading fiction and manga might help me. When I left the dark alley, I noticed that the sun was much farther down in the sky, creating long shadows across the street and covering the town in a soft orange light. I chuckled a little at myself once I realized I must have spent a few hours in there. After finishing my self-deprecating laugh I took some time to take in my surroundings a bit better. I walked around the town as casually as possible while taking in as much of the scenery as possible. Though after looking around for a short time I realized that "city" would be a better word. The city was made almost completely made out of a rough stone with wooden supports being common. The city was surrounded by a large stone wall which had a number of battlements with odd-looking contraptions on top which I could only assume were some sort of machine which was unique to this world. Though it was late in the afternoon, there seemed to be even more people out and about which made it hard to move around at times. However, it was good for getting a grasp of the mood of the city. I overheard multiple people talking about an election that was coming up, so this country was probably a democracy of some sort.

Other things that I noticed were that for every horse being used to carry or pull a cart, there was a giant lizard doing the same job. They were about twice the size of a horse and their colors ranged from dark brown to bright green or yellow. Their features also appeared to differ quite a lot between certain species as well. Some of them had longer jaws, shorter spines, or even a total lack of claws. I was lucky enough to overhear a conversation where I learned the name was "ground dragon" … fitting really. Sadly, this also led to large piles of dung that contributed to another aspect of the town which surprised me. The _ **Smell**_. It didn't smell bad I would say, in fact the purity of the air was incredibly refreshing, however when passing certain places or when a ground dragon decided to relieve itself, you would get hit by an absolutely horrible odor that was an assault on one's sense of smell.

When the sun began to dip below the horizon and people went around and lit lanterns in the street and outside their homes, I decided to find a place for the night. I looked around for a place that looked like a tavern or inn and I quickly realized a major problem. Their written language was completely different from the spoken language. I had absolutely no idea what these chicken scratch marks meant and although I could tell that there was some order and pattern to them, I couldn't understand or even guess at a single word. I was left speechless for the second time that day as I realized how utterly screwed I was in this situation. I was in a seemingly fantasy country, had no money, couldn't read, no friends or even acquaintances, and I didn't even know where the hell I could go for help.

It was a number of hours before I even was able to find an inn. By then it was the dead of night and I stumbled through the door to this "fine" establishment in a drunken fashion. Needless to say, the many large, tattooed, and buff men at the bar and tables didn't take too kindly to my interrupting their happy hour. I was quickly grabbed by the scruff of my shirt and literally thrown out of the door along with a yell that sounded oddly like "Feck off!". I skidded for about 3 meters before my head bumped into a nearby fountain. I remained for that for a few minutes before I got up and went on my way. This process of going in and getting thrown out repeated itself about 5 times before I finally conceded to just sleeping in an alley however I never even made it that far. By that point the moon was high in the sky and I realized I hadn't slept for over 24 hours. I felt the adrenaline that had been sustaining me for the last half-a-day began to fade and I stumbled over to the side of the road and fell over as my backpack became too heavy for me to carry. I could feel my consciousness fade as I looked up into the moonlight and when my eyes closed I truly hoped that this would all have been some demented dream.

I awoke to the sound of cursing, laughing, and overall jubilation. I snapped my eyes open only to see the door to what appeared to be a medieval tavern. I was incredibly confused for a moment until the memories of the last half-day came rushing back. I sighed as I realized that it wasn't just a dream and that I was still stuck wherever this was. But then I realized something even worse. This was the first bar that I had been visited. I looked around in a haze and noticed that sure enough the moon wasn't as high in the sky as it was when I fell asleep. "Did I… go back in time?" I gasped to myself as I couldn't even contain my shock. I stumbled backwards and before I knew it I had backed up into the bar and was getting the same look that I had gotten the first time. As the same man that had thrown me began getting get up, I dashed out of the tavern and ran down the street, a newfound source of adrenaline pumping energy through my veins. _"What the hell was going on!?"_ I thought to myself as I backtracked the path that I had taken before and found each bar exactly in order, exactly where I remembered them. I stopped when I saw the spot that I had fallen asleep and the energy that I had had suddenly disappeared as I slumped against the wall.

My mind was bombarded with possible scenarios or possibilities as I realized that whatever had happened, I had been able to go back in time. Not that it helped me out too much at the moment, but it did save me from getting thrown 4 or 5 times. I couldn't help but grin out of both nervousness and excitement as I realized that at least one thing in this world was going my way, however unknown it seemed. I spent a number of minutes just sitting there imagining how this might work and before I knew it I hit the limit of my stamina but thankfully the excitement kept me awake. I soon noticed that many of the large numbers of people in the taverns seemed to be heading home from their happy hour and forced myself to stand up, making sure to secure my backpack on my shoulders. I then ran down the street towards the nearest one of the inns.

I had to push through some people, some very drunk people, to get into the inn. However, I managed to get in and stay in the entryway without incident and was left practically alone in the bar now except for a number of individuals who were passed out at the bar and a lone innkeeper who stood smiling behind a small desk next to a single stairway up. He was dressed in the stereotypical butler fashion and had about shoulder length black hair tied into a man-bun. He stood with a respectful and calm fashion, seemingly unperturbed by the raucous excitement that had been here a few minutes ago. He quickly took notice of me and beckoned me over with a small wave of his hand. I walked over and as I did a small smile grew on my face as this was the first person to act civil towards me since that one lady. "I wonder what happened to her?" I wondered as I walked over. The middle-aged butler greeted me with a smile and asked, in quite an eloquent voice

"Welcome to the Silver Cup Inn and Tavern. What may I do for you today sir?"

I was quite shocked at the stereotypical reaction but I guess stereotypes are a thing for a reason. I quickly cleared my throat and answered him in as polite a tone as I could manage

"I would like a room to stay the night in."

He smiled, probably having guessed that's what I was there for, quickly held his open hand in front of him, and calmly stated

"Right away sir. That will be 1 gold coin."

Crap…. I forgot about that. He probably saw the panic and despair on my face as he dropped his hand and his expression became more stern before saying "Do you not have money sir?" I gulped as I saw the anger behind his eyes and quickly tried to cover for my mistake.

"I'm new in this to- city, and err, I just don't have any um… currency with me… yeah."

I could feel his eyes grow even more cold and I shrunk in front of him as his cold eyes looked me over. Probably trying to figure out if I was just messing with him or if he should have me removed. Surprisingly, after a few moments, he just sighed and looked at me with a combination of pity and disappointment before saying.

"Sir, do you have anything that you could give me in the form of a trade?"

I gasped audibly, quite to his disgust, as I remembered. The barter system! I completely forgot that trading items for other items or services was common in a lot of medieval society. I quickly through of my backpack and opened it up to search for something that I could give him. He initially seemed bored at my actions, but when he saw my modern backpack his interest became peaked and he watched as I went through a number of things he had never seen the likes of before.

Phone?

No.

Books?

He can't read them.

Clothes….

I quickly grabbed the extra hoodie I had in my front backpack pocket and slammed it on the desk, a little too forcefully due to my excitement and nervousness. He looked down at the hoodie with confusion and looked up at me with a judgmental eye as he probably had no idea what it was.

"This is called a hoodie! It's a special kind of clothing made for wearing in colder weather and it will help keep you warm, has a small pocket for holding things in, and even comes with a hood for covering your head. It's made from some really nice material."

God, I sound like a telemarketer…. However, my explanation seemed to peak his interest as he picked up the hoodie and looked it over with a rather critical eye, as if he was expecting something to be wrong with it. Not that I could blame him though, I must look pretty damn suspicious. I perked up as he looked at me with a somewhat resigned look and said:

"I'll buy this off of you for 3 gold coins, alright?"

I quickly nodded and judging by his heavy sigh upon seeing my reaction I could guess that he was loathing having to do this. I was knocked out of my dreams of sleeping in normal bed by the man following up with a second question after handing me three golden coins.

"You're new here aren't you. As in completely new. Just got here and have no idea what you're doing right?"

I was a tad offended by how he had dropped the cool butler-y act and was addressing me as a bit of nuisance now but I could understand what he must be thinking, and simply nodded, hoping to not cause any more trouble.

"Then why don't you follow me? I can explain a few things to you and make sure you've got a place to stay for a while."

I was shocked to see this sudden change in his harsh attitude as he walked towards one of the abandoned tables and took a seat.

"Well? Are you going to accept my humble offer or not?"

I grimaced at his self-praise but followed him nonetheless as I needed to find out more about this world and talking to him was definitely my best option. I just hope this goes well…

I had seen dragons walk around on roads, gotten sent back in time, and had managed to barter my hoodie off for a stay at a hotel, but where I was now being possibly the oddest scene that I had experienced yet. I was in a rough and smelly medieval tavern at around midnight with a few patrons still passed out at the bar or on the floor. I was sitting at a low table with a finish so rough I was worried that so much as poking it would give me huge splinters. And seated across from me was a middle-aged butler, dressed in a dark green hoodie that was too small on him, who was looking at me with possibly the most disappointing glare I had ever seen.

"First things first, let me introduce myself. My name is Charles Deanery and I hail from the land to the North of the capital. I co-own this fine establishment with my wife."

I had a small notebook in front of me and was waiting to write the important bits down as Charles continued his explanation.

"You are currently in the capital city of Halkeginia, a large central country which is ruled over by a royal family. Although there is currently no ruler or heir due to the entire family disappearing, there is currently an election being held to decide the next ruler. By the way, this country was essentially founded by a dragon."

At that I stopped writing and stared at him, shock quite evident on my face. He gave out a short chuckle seeing my expression, probably thinking that I was awestruck that the country was founded by a dragon. But no, I was shocked because a dragon existed. Thoughts ran through my head at light speed.

"Wait a dragon!? That means this is a fantasy world. Meaning magic and sorcery is a thing. Does that mean the time travel thing was…? And wait what else exi-."

My internal ramblings were interrupted by Charles as he continued his explanation.

"As I was saying, the dragon helped found this country after defeating the witch of Envy, Satella. A disgusting half-elf witch with silver hair who terrorized many people."

His face darkened a great deal upon mentioning her and after finishing that sentence I could have sworn I heard him say something under his breath. Did he say Emily? Who the heck is Emily?! Shaking his head, he smiled and resumed speaking.

"Anyway, that was a long time ago. Just a history lesson you should know. Right now, the country is under the rule of a contracted ruler, a court of nobles, a council of sages, and multiple orders of knights all working together to guarantee our safety and continued prosperity."

I chuckled a little at the classic set up of a fantasy world. Still though, I thought, this spells a difficult situation for me. I have no connections, no money, and a bare minimum knowledge of the world. I shook my head, trying to get rid of the negative thoughts. "No" I thought "I need to stay focused and confident. I can't waste a single second."

"There are a lot of other details I could tell you but for now I'll tell you the bare minimum that you need to know. Firstly, there are 3 types of coins used here Gold, Silver, and Copper. A silver is worth 5 copper and a Gold is worth 5 silver. Generally, copper is used to buy foodstuffs or small items. Silver is used to but larger things such as short-term services or larger items. And Gold is used for anything large or important. If anything, Gold symbolizes the importance of a transaction. Now the- "

It looked as if he was about to continue but we were interrupted by the sudden breaking down of the open door of the tavern. Charles' face drained to a pale and deathly white and when I turned around I could understand why. Standing in the door was a large… Beast. Well, beast-man might be a better word. I had seen some pretty impressive demi-humans in the streets but the size of this guy was terrifying. He wore nothing but a pair of incredibly baggy pants and a shoulder-strap which held a large metal plate to his right shoulder. It also held a large cleaver on his back which looked to be about as long as I was tall. The large beast-man ducked inside the room and stood at attention for the person who followed. And when she entered the room my breadth disappeared from my lungs.

I had never really been in love before and most definitely was not any form of romantic, but when she walked through the door the words "love at first sight" popped into my head. She was a small and relatively petite woman dressed in a long, snow-white, dress with fluff at the frills and edges. She also had a matching white cloak around her shoulders with a large with a large purse hanging across her small shoulders. Her hair was of a purple hue and fell to about her waist in a large wavy…. waves. But it was her eyes and facial expression that really caught my attention. They shone with a green-blue light and her face showed this visage of confidence and relaxation that took my breath away. She walked in, not like she owned the place, but like she knew that she belonged here and had a complete confidence in herself.

My staring at her was only disturbed by the arrival of three very odd puffballs behind her. The three looked almost identical and stood at about mid-thigh height. They seemed to be humanoid tabby cats and even had the ears to match. They were all dressed in white robes that seemed to complement the young woman, which made the hulking beast stand out quite a bit. She took a moment to look around and eventually settled her sights on Charles, who at this point looked as if he would rather die than be there. She gave a small smile as she walked over and stopped next to our table, flanked on either side by a puffball- I mean a cat person… thing.

"Excuse me, sir. Could I please ask what you think you're doing?"

Her voice was soft and cheerful, but yet again gave off this complete and utter confidence. Despite this I still noticed the cold and threatening message hidden behind those polite words and peaceful tone. I glanced over at Charles only to see him get on his knees and prostrate himself in front of her.

"I am truly sorry, madam Hoshin! We promise we will get the payment to you. Just give us a little more time. Please!"

Charles was crying at this point and his sobs interrupted his words as he continued to beg for more time. I stood shocked and looked at this young woman with horror. She was looking at this man with utter disappointment and if anything, a little amusement, as if she had expected this.

"Is this lady a sadist. And what the hell kind of mafia sh*t is this. Is she like the Big Boss of the local gang?!"

She eventually let out a sigh and leaned down next to Charles while giving him a look similar to that off a parent scolding a child.

"Charles dear. I know you have a very popular establishment and can pay it off at pretty much any time, so I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to get the sympathy of that poor man there in some fool's hope of saving money."

"Huh, what the hell is she saying!? Charles is bloody crying! How the hell could she say that!

However, it seems that she was telling the truth and that I was playing straight into Charles' hands as the second she said that he grabbed a dagger from his coat and launched himself at her, the dagger aimed directly at her throat. I barely saw it coming and though I was the closest, when I started forward, reaching out to push her out of the way, I knew I wouldn't make it. She on the other hand, yet again had this look of complete confidence. And I quickly understood why."

"Hyaaaaauuuuggghhhhh!"

The beast-man who was standing near the door burst forward with incredible speed, drawing his large sword in the same motion, and in ne swift action brought the back of the blade down hard on his back, slamming him into the floor so hard it cracked the floorboards. Charles gave out a cry and I could hear a number of sickening cracks come from Charles' back. Thankfully I was able to stop myself before I pushed the young lady over and simply ended up standing next to one of the cat-people next to her. The one I was next to me looked up at me and gave me a nod of thanks for trying to save her but then simply waved is hand at me to tell me I was not needed, so I quickly backed off and sat back down.

The woman gave Charles a knowing look despite his horrible condition and turned towards one of the cat-paople who stood next to her.

"Mimi, could you please go get the Mrs. And tell her that she is needed in the foyer as she has a debt to pay off and her husband needs assistance."

"Right-o ma'am!"

The little cat person proceeded to leap up the stairs and run into what I could only guess was their personal living quarters. Their shrill voice surprised me and caused me to hold one of my ears as it laughed when it jumped up to the second floor. The young lady and the rest of her entourage gave out a small smile at that one's actions, despite having just seemingly fatally injured someone. I gathered my courage and stood up facing the young woman.

"Uh… Miss… Um"

"Hoshin is fine. And madam please."

Her response was quick and calm with a practiced sound to it.

"Right. Uh, Madam Hoshin, is Charles going to be alright?"

The look she gave me next was one that looked as if I had asked whether the sky was green.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Huh, well he seems very hurt."

Her questioning look deepened and she even cocked her head to one side. Damn that was cute.

"I am very surprised your worried about his well-being. Did he not just try, albeit in vain, to kill me? And did you not just try to save me? Why are you worried about him?"

I took a step back in surprise. While I could understand her position and her reasoning, it seemed incredibly harsh and merciless. She seemed to be thinking that because he had done something wrong, however serious, he deserved none of the mercies generally granted to people. I get that this was a medieval world but that was just too harsh.

"Listen, you're fine and he's not. I get that he tried to hurt you but that's no need to abandon him to death when we could still save him."

Her facial expression changed from one of curiosity and interest to one of exasperation and with a heavy sigh she called another one of the furr-balls over.

"Hetaro would you please heal Charles. This… young man brings up a good point. And besides, we could use still use him."

The small cat-person walks over and places his hands over Charles back and says a few words. And then I saw something that shook me to the very core. Magic. A pale blue light emanated from Hetaro's hands and glided over Charles entire back leaving a trail of dust along his back that quickly disappeared into his skin and caused it to give off the same soft light. I stood in wonder at the amazing sight and didn't even notice when Madam Hoshin walked over and greeted a woman dressed in a nightgown. I only snapped out of my trance when I noticed that a large sum of money was exchanged between them and the woman bowed in apology. Hetaro then ended his spell, or whatever it was, and proceeded to bandage Charles up and carry him singlehandedly up the stairs and to jis room, which was quite the feat for such a small thing.

"What the hell is going on?"

I whispered that to myself as I grab my backpack off of the floor and head towards the door in the hope of finding another tavern still open. I was stopped however, by the large beast-man who had returned to his position by the door. The soft push he gave me may have seemed small to him but it sent me stumbling back, barely able to stay up. He gave me what I could only assume was a toothy grin as it looked like a snarl whenever he opened his mouth.

"Thanks a bunch lad. I know you didn't help much or anything, but I appreciate you trying to save Madam Hoshin."

Needless to say I was embarrassed and quite nervous. Here was a large Beast-man thanking me for trying to save some rich girl in a fantasy world which seemed desperate to throw me into a bad situation. I tried to say something but the words died in my throat. My fear and anxiety of having just seen an attempted murder and a nigh-successful one came bubbling up and I burst into a run, pushing past the large beast-man. I ran out into the street and baralled down the street, not really thinking of where I was going. It was probably about 2 in the morning and the streets were completely empty. There was a light rain coming down and my clothes were soon soaked from both sweat and the rain. I eventually stopped in a small alleyway where a small alcove had been cut out of a house to allow for cover from the rain. I stopped there panting and leaning over, my legs felt like hot lead and I swear I could taste blood in my mouth. However before I could catch my breath I heard a soft yet cold voice behind me.

"And who might you be, sir?"

I looked over in the direction where the voice had come from only to be met with an empty street corner. I squinted to see if I had missed something when the same voice came from right behind me:

"You're lost, aren't you?"

I turned around only to see a flash of light and sudden and searing pain in my neck. I fell backwards as blood burst forth from my neck and splattered the figure in front of me. There stood a girl, probably about 17, who was dressed in a soft white frilly dress and her light brown hair was put into a braid was placed over her shoulder as to cause it to fall to her waist in front of her. I couldn't speak and I could feel the blood draining from my body. And the pain. The pain felt like my entire neck had been spit open and I could feel my heart and lungs failing as their source of power and fuel stopped coming. My body quickly became cold and as my mind faded into consciousness I could only stare at the girl in wonder, wondering why she, who had been so worried about me earlier, would kill me like this.

 ** _"_** ** _Why!"_**

That was the last thought that passed through my mind before everything went black.

"You hear me kid? Hey you okay?!"

The beast-man in front of me looked at me in worry as I stood there gasping for breath, my hand clutching at my neck, feeling for the gaping cut that had been there before.

What the f*ck! I just died! Was that really the chick who I saw earlier?! Why did she kill me? And how the hell am I alive!?

I tried to stand up but when I tried to all of the fear anxiety and the exhaustion of having not gotten any sleep in what seemed like days kicked in all at once and as I fainted, I fell forward towards the beast-man who moved forward to catch me. It's funny but my last thought before fading to black once again was:

 _"_ _Hey. I wonder what this guy's fur feel like."_


	2. A New Situation

My dreams were filled with the image of the young woman who had killed me. Her white frilly summer dress. Her long brown hair tied into a braid. Her cold dead eyes as her knife sliced through my neck. The blood splattering all around and how it shone on her knife. That red color filled my vision as I faded into nothingness. And then the scene repeated. This process repeated itself hundreds of times in my dreams until I finally awoke to the sound of a crash. My eyes snapped open and I shot up from where I was lying down at the sound of a second crash and I was greeted by one of the strangest scenes yet.

"Let go you jack*ss!"

"No you let go *sshole!"

Standing in front of me were two demi-humans fighting over a small piece of cloth. One looked like a mix between a sloth and man while the other had the scales of a lizard and even a tail to boot. They were both dressed in simple clothes that had been adapted to their unique… features. I looked around a bit and saw that I was in a pretty small bedroom with a single window which let early morning light through its light blue curtains. Other than the bed the room was completely empty except for a few chairs that were now on the floor because these guys had probably knocked them over. I returned my gaze to the two people in front of me only to notice something odd about that small piece of cloth. I knew that plaid pattern… **_Wait a minute!_**

"Let go of my underwear you _freaks_!"

I leapt forward from my bed and grabbed one of my pairs of underwear from the clutches of these two apparent perverts. It may just be a plain pair of boxers but it was still incredibly weird to see it being examined and fought over by two strange people I didn't know. They looked at me with a look of shock, before quickly turning around and then they began whispering to each other.

"…He's moving…"

"…He moved…"

"…Gotta tell the boss…"

"…think he'll notice…"

I could only hear little bits and pieces from their conversation but from what I heard it sounded like those people I had run into had left me somewhere after I passed out and had left some people in charge of me. I jumped a little when the sloth looking man got up and dashed out of the room. I looked over at the lizard-man and the look he gave me seemed to be his version of a nervous smile. I turned my look at him into a glare and I held out my hand.

"Please give me my bag and anything else you took from it back sir."

"…Uh, oh right. This."

He got up and walked over to the corner of the room nearest to the bed where I had looked over a small table with my backpack and the clothes I was wearing earlier on it. It was the that I realized I was wearing a very soft pair of white cotton pants and a matching shirt. They felt incredibly soft I quickly pulled them closer to myself so I could better appreciate their softness.

"Here you go."

I was snapped out of my daze by the lizardman holding my backpack out towards me with my clothes on top. I quickly grab it and set it down on my lap, where I precede to search through every pocket and make sure I had everything I should have. The lizardman looked at my bag with extreme interest as I used the zippers, something he had probably never seen before and probably didn't even exist in this world, and gave out small gasps at each new contraption that I pulled out.

"Hey Trazz. I'm back. The boss said he wanted to see the guy so we should help him get here… Trazz!"

Both the lizardman and my attention only noticed the sloth-man's return after he yelled the lizardman's name as I was absorbed in checking my gear and he was intent on looking at each and everything I pulled out. Trazz looked at the sloth and gave out an embarrassing chuckle as he scooted away from my bedside.

"Ha-ha… got you Nert… Let's get on that. So, uh…. What's your name?"

"Me? Oh. My name is Conor. Conor O'Donovan."

They both looked at each other in confusion upon hearing my name. When they saw, my inquiring look they both looked away nervously and we spent about a minute like that before Trazz finally spoke up.

"It's just that that's a really… odd name. It used to be pretty common but a certain… individual gave it a bad reputation and it hasn't been used much since. And before you ask we won't tell you about the person. It's not something nice to talk about."

"Um… alright."

Nert and Trazz both moved towards the door and I followed suit, stuffing all of my clothes into my bag before following them. I followed them out the door and into a large hallway. I hadn't been given any kind of footwear so I was following them barefoot as we headed down the hallway. On one side of hallway was a row of doors which I could only assume had similar rooms from the perfect similarity between all of the doors. On the other side was a row of either paintings, banners, or other more artistic decorations that seemed to be from all over this world from the sheer variety. Other than all the ornaments on the one side, the halls were pretty bare and was only lit by small lanterns in the center of the ceilings, casting quite the eerie light over the entire place.

"… um… mind telling me where we are?"

"Oh! That's right. You were passed out here when the boss brought you here. Well then…"

Before continuing, Trazz does a quick turn and does a jokingly gracious bow that just makes him look like a complete idiot.

"… Welcome to the Iron Fangs home base in the capital of Lugunica! Here we eat, sleep, train, and drink together in preparation for anything the highest bidder needs."

I take a step back at the sudden outburst, nearly tripping over my feet. Nert also looked back, seemingly as surprised by the short speech as I was. He stared for a few seconds before sighing.

"Come on Trazz. The boss will be mad if we're late. Especially with a person he himself brought in."

"Crap! You're right. Let's get moving."

At that Trazz grabbed my arm and pulled me along as we all broke into a jog. Meanwhile I was processing everything that I had picked up from my interactions with these two. " _So this is some kind of military group, huh. "Iron Fang" they called it. Kind of generic. But in a good way. And by boss did they mean Madam Hoshin or… Please be Madam Hoshin!_ _ **Please!"**_

We ran down the same hallway taking a number of turns at intersections but never going through any doors or going anywhere with a window. I was amazed that a building this big existed in a medieval world outside of places like palaces. It felt like we had been running for hours when we finally arrived at something different. We came to a T-intersection in the hallway with us being on the upper right part of the T. We then turned downwards and I found myself staring at a pair of large wrought iron doors being guarded by two large lizard-men in full metal armor holding heavy wooden shields and with their hands resting on the handles of axes on their waists. I could feel the blood drain from my face as they looked down. They must have been about 9 feet tall. Even Trazz and Nert were much more somber around them.

"We brought the human that Ricardo brought in a few days ago as requested."

 _"_ _Wait DAYS! I had been asleep for days"_

I was quickly grabbed by Nert and rushed into the room behind the doors as the guards pulled them apart. Nert and Trazz seemed to be trying to get in as soon as possible and I couldn't blame them. I didn't want to spend a single second more under the harsh and watchful eye of those guys. Although, the second I entered the room I began to have second thoughts about that.

"What the f- "

"Hello there! Good to see you up and running again."

As impressive as Ricardo looked with his great-sword resting on his back as he walked towards us with a wide grin on his face, I was more impressed by what he was walking to us from. The room seemed to be about the size of a football stadium and was filled (and I mean **_Filled_** ) to the brim with either people training in a variety of ways or the tools or contraptions being used in such training. I saw people performing incredible feats of physical prowess and a good number of people practicing varying kinds of magic. I could see balancing platforms, practice dummies that fought back, and the highest climbing wall I had ever seen with absolutely no artificial handholds, all of the places to grip were natural. I stood agape as I absorbed the incredible scene in front of me and didn't even notice Ricardo coming up to me. I was only snapped out of my stupor when he smacked me on the head.

"You alright mate?!"

"Huh! Oh, yeah… yeah… I'm fine… totally fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I'm fine"

He took a step back, his worrying temporarily abated. Then he grinned as he swept his arm out in a smooth motion to sweep over the entire area. His face beamed with pride as he looked upon it.

"Impressive huh! This place took ages to build and I heard the paperwork that had to be done was _insane._ Completely worth it though. This place is the heart and soul of our organization here. We have a bigger place back in our hometown but this is special in its own way, especially since we hope to be staying here more permanently."

I hardly even heard what he said as I continued to take in the scene. The place was lit by a number of giant magical lights on the ceiling which mirrored small suns and gave the entire area a feeling of natural light. There were a number of small stations set up to serve a multitude of purposes such as rest areas, food, restrooms, and medical tents. As I surveyed the soldiers I noticed something which while probably perfectly normal for most people of this world, worried me a great deal. Humans were an absolutely tiny minority in this huge group. I'd say about 20:1from what I could see. I say a great variety of demi-humans and some honestly scared me a great deal. I saw people breathing fire, crushing boulders, and skin changing color to blend in so well that even when I wasn't too far away I couldn't tell where they were the second they transformed.

"Whelp. That's enough surveying what we've got. It's time for you to actually get involved."

"Wait! What?!"

Before I could get another word in edgewise I was grabbed by Nert and Trazz and dragged towards the center of the field where a larger than average building was set up. Whereas most of the small structures were made of wooden planks or just plain cloth, this one was made of stone and stood as a little bit of a waypoint in the center of the field. It was a two-story building with a large number of windows but it was relatively square and plain in shape and overall decoration. It kind of looked as if someone had dropped a stone brick into the center of the field. The soldiers around it seemed to give it a wide berth and as we followed Ricardo to its front door, we gained a number of suspicious glances.

"Stop it! Let go!"

I finally managed to break free of their grip as we neared the main door. Nert and Trazz looked at me with a kind of "what are you doing you idiot" look while Ricardo just turned and looked at me with mild curiosity, his usual smile replaced with a business-like blank expression. I realized that I was probably doing something stupid but things were getting too crazy too fast, I have to stop this and get some control over my own situation.

"Listen. I don't know what is going on. I don't know who you are, where this bloody country is, or what the hell I'm going to do. And apparently, I can go back in ti-!"

As I tried to finish my sentence my breathing stopped and I couldn't get the words out. I grabbed my throat and fell forward onto my knees as I gasped for breath, but no air came in. _"What… the hell! Augh! I don't… want to die again."_ My hands were clawing at my heart and throat, trying to get rid of whatever oppressive force was causing this but to no avail. I looked up to the people around me as my vision started to go black only to see them standing stock still. They were looking at where I was standing as if they had been stopped in a moment of time. Before I could notice anything else I heard a clear and resounding sound clap. Then all of the air rushed back into my lungs and I fell onto my side gasping for air.

"Wow, you held on for longer than I thought. Impressive."

I heard a soft voice come from above me but thanks to my gasping for air I couldn't even see who, or what, had spoken. My lungs felt like they were on fire and I could hear my own heartbeat boom in my head as it started beating again.

"Listen, kid. I'm not going to explain everything right now, but for the moment just remember that you're not allowed to tell anyone about your little… how should I put it… time trick? Yeah. We'll go with that. Oh, and next time you do it without my permission, you're dead. Got it?"

I managed to crack one of my eyes open just in time to see a small flash of light envelop a humanoid body before disappearing. At that moment, time seemed to resume, the sounds of training came back at full volume and sounded like cannons to my ears which had been fed nothing but silence except for that voice, for the last few moments. Nert rushed over to my side as I was still gasping on the ground.

"Hey, you okay?! What the heck was that? You just fell over there after saying some stuff. Are you feeling alright?"

I couldn't speak yet but I gave him a nod to tell him that I was okay and despite my mind reeling from my short encounter with… something, I let him pull me up and pull me towards the building. Ricardo and Trazz followed closely behind ready to help. They opened the door, and while I couldn't pay much attention to the decorations on the inside, I could quickly tell that I was placed on a soft surface. I laid there for a few minutes, letting my breath fully return and letting my sense return to normal.

"You feeling better Conor?"

"Ugh., Yeah, I should be fine."

I pulled myself up from where I was sitting and finally got a good look at my surroundings. I was in a small room with a single bed which I was currently laying in. The room had no windows and only one door which stood ajar. Trazz was sitting in a short wooden chair next to me and was giving me quite the worried expression.

"Listen, if you're not feeling well, we should go back to the infirmary and we can do this later."

"No."

"A-Are you sure? You seemed pretty out of it ba- "

"I'm. Fine."

My answer was no for three reasons. 1). I didn't want to make the trek back right now because I currently felt like a punching bag that was recently used by a certain buff apple salesmen working off stress. 2). I had come this far and had heard about a lot of things and my curiosity was killing me. And 3). I was worried if I was put back into a hospital bed without anything else to focus on I would be left thinking of nothing except my recent run in with a time-controlling ghost… thing. And my expression apparently reflected my determination as Trazz shook his head and raised his hands in surrender.

"Fine, we'll go in a minute but I'm just warning you that you'll want to be in your best form for talking to that As-… I mean, that… guy. Yeah. Guy. We'll go with that.

"Right…"

I slowly stood up and paced around a bit to get my bearings back and snuck a few looks out of the door to look around. The door opened up into a short hallway that led straight into a central room that seemed to be the center of a number of other rooms as well. I could see Trazz talking to Nert and Ricardo in the central room and although I couldn't hear what they were saying, judging by all the glances they were shooting in my direction they were talking about me. Eventually Ricardo headed off to the right and out of my view. Nert and Trazz then came back over to me and entered the room as I was finishing stretching.

"Ready to go, Conor? You don't want to keep this guy waiting."

"Who is this guy anyway? You guys seem to be pretty harsh towards him."

Trazz gave me a bit of a "Shut up!" look before Nert stopped suddenly and whirled around, shoving his fluffy face towards mine, until there was only about an inch between them and proceeded to hiss out in a harsh and spiteful tone:

"That **_man_** is an absolute vile person. He seems to be doing his best to ruin the Iron Fang and has the audacity to say that he is trying to help us. Ha! As if we need his help…."

Nert eventually turned around and continued rambling as we continued towards a staircase that led upstairs. Trazz gave me a disappointed look and whispered:

" _You just_ _ **had**_ _to say that."_

"Note to self: Don't bring up this guy in front of Nert unless absolutely necessary" was the thought that ran through my head as I heard a great number of expletives from Nert as we ascended the stairs.

When we got to the second floor I was quite surprised to see that it was actually one single room, no walls, no windows, no nothing. And I could see that Ricardo was looking at Nert with an incredibly exasperated look. And I could practically see the color drain from Nert's face, if I could see the skin from his face, as he realized that the person standing next to Ricardo, who was most likely the person who he was talking about, was able to hear every word he had said. There, standing next to Ricardo was a young man who appeared to be about my age. He was dressed in a pair of nice white pants and a grey button-up T-shirt. He had a sword on his hip and the calm and content expression on his face filled me with a terror that rivaled the most recent near-death experiment I had. He had bright purple hair and his golden eyes seemed to stare right into your soul.

"Quite the loud-mouthed subordinate you have their Ricardo."

Ricardo shot another angry glance at Nert before responding:

"Well, Julius, you know that you have a strained reputation with my men. And for good reason too."

"You have a bit of point. I still think that some of those words go beyond a "strained" reputation, but it doesn't really matter. As long as I can do my job and my duty then I have no complaints about what the lackeys say about me.

I could see Ricardo grow visibly irritated at that comment and it was quite the scary sight. Even this Julius guy seemed to slightly regret his choice of phrasing as he quickly uttered a short apology before walking forward. Ricardo calmed down a bit but the glare that followed Julius scared the crap out of me.

"Hello there, young man. My name is Julius. I am a holy knight under the service of Anastasia Hoshin. I have been told you were found under suspicious circumstances and Ricardo wants me to examine you."

 _"_ _Wait a minute. I understand the suspicious circumstances but what the hell Ricardo! Examine me!_ "

I took a step back as Julius walked forward only causing him to narrow his eyes and walk faster.

"Um… listen Julius… sir? I don't think any examination is needed…"

"I understand your trepidation, but rest assured I will not violate you in any way"

 _"_ _Wait. Violate! What the hell!"_

"No I really must decline. You see I just want… answers! That's it! Answers!"

He stopped, pausing for a moment to give me look over. His look turned to that of confusion as he looked me over again. And again. And again. We spent about 3 whole minutes in silence with me hardly breathing as Julius continued to look me over.

"…Impressive… how could… unnatural…"

He appeared to be mumbling to himself about something, probably comments about my appearance and eventually straightened up abruptly and walked to another corner of the room where he began to look through a bookshelf, occasionally pulling out a book and skimming through it, before sighing and putting it back. Meanwhile, I was just thankful for the opportunity to breathe freely and for a moment Trazz looked as though he thought I was going to fall over again judging by his expression. I turned and dismissed his worry with a small wave of my hand before turning around and- ** _O Sh*t!_** In front of me stood Julius with a very… excited look on his face. He held a small leather bound book that looked to be very old in front of my eyes and pointed to a single illustration that was drawn on the center of the page.

"Do you recognize this?"

I looked at the illustration and quickly notices something, whoever drew this sucked at drawing. And I mean **sucked.** For one they were clearly stick people. And badly drawn ones too. Secondly, hey apparently tried to draw a background to go with it but that just made things worse. Finally, and this may not be the person's fault, but there was a number of water stains that made some of the illustration very hard to read. However, despite all this I was quickly able to tell just what this was an illustration of. It was a horribly, _horribly_ , redrawn version of the iconic movie poster for " _Star Wars: A New Hope_ ".

"Um… I recognize it but where the hell did you get this?"

"So you are…"

Julius seemed to go off into his world to think as he walked over to a chair that lay off to the side in the room and sat down. He crossed one of his legs over the other and put his chin on is knuckle and rested that hand's elbow on his crossed over knee. I nearly burst out laughing at the sight of him doing an almost perfect impression of _"The Thinker"._ I entertained myself with that image for a few minutes but pretty soon I noticed that, yet again, an awkward silence was forming as Julius stayed in his little world. We all stood in silence for what seemed like hours before Ricardo finally broke the silence.

"Oi… Julius. Julius!"

He looked up as if he had completely forgotten that we were there and quickly cleared his throat before answering.

"Forgive me. It seems I had lost track of time. I need more time to process what I have found out. I would like you to return to your room Conor. Oh! But before you go, please rest assured that you are in the best of health and that you will not find a safer place in the capital… aside from maybe the palace itself, that is."

"Thanks… I guess."

"You are very welcome and I look forward to the next time we talk."

Before I could utter another word, I was grabbed on either side by Nert and Trazz and rushed out as quickly and as eloquently as possible, despite my words of protest. They dragged me all the way back to my room in a matter of minutes despite it having taken about half an hour to get there. When we got back to the room they tossed me into the bed, and slammed the door shut, but not before saying:

"Just stay in bed. We have to deal with the shit-storm that's about to happen so **_Stay Here_**!"

The sound of the slamming door rang in my ears and I was left sitting in the bed staring at the door with a dumbstruck expression on my face. Before I could get up and shout a retort or an excuse, all of the crazy experiences that had happened in the last few hours of my life here came rushing back and brought on a bout of nausea that caused me to fall back onto the bed and I lay there, staring at the ceiling.

"What the hell am I doing?"


	3. A Goal is Set and a Bond is Formed

_Hello everyone! Quick author's note to avoid any issues. I have watched the Re: zero anime and know some of the most immediate events after the anime's ending (Poor Rem) … That's it. So, when this story's plotline veers so off course that you could have sworn that_ _ **it**_ _got sent to another world instead of Subaru, please understand that I am just saving myself from spoilers and kind of coming up with it as I go along. I'd also like to give a bit of a shout-out to T.S. Atlas for leaving some awesome reviews. As always, I do not own Re: zero or any of the characters. Now then back to Conor's adventure…_

 _/_

I woke up to a thunderstorm. Despite being inside a seemingly impenetrable fortress, the sounds and shockwaves caused by the thunder and lightning resonated inside of my room. It was the first time in that world that I had woken up expecting to be there, and that acceptance sent a chill down my spine. I was currently locked in my small room as I had been for the last few days, or at least that was what the nurse told me. After Trazz and Nert tossed me in here, something happened, and I was told that I was essentially under house arrest. My only interactions with the outside world was through a young human nurse by the name of Selene. Selene was currently a member of the Iron Fang's trainee group and she was a training to be a master enchanter… enchantress… Ah! What does it matter! Someone who enchants stuff good. Yeah! We'll go with that… Anyway, she seems to be about my age and has shoulder length black hair that she ties up in a bun. From what she's told me the capital is in some kind of emergency mode and most people are required to stay indoors. Even the trainees, like Selene, are only granted a little personal autonomy in the confines of the hall, and they have just as much knowledge about what's going on as I do. None.

I sat up from my bed and listened closely, hoping to hear any signs of activity through the wooden walls. This had become a habit of mine during my short incarceration and it usually turned out to be futile. As it did tonight, especially with the crashes of thunder shielding any real activity. However, just as I was about to stop and go back to sleep, I began to hear a number of loud voices coming down the hallway. I tried to listen to what they were saying but with the thunder and seemingly 5 people talking at once I couldn't understand a word and before I knew it, said group of people burst into my room.

"I'm telling you Madam. That's bullsh*t. We've had our eyes on him the entire time. And why would he-"

"Do you have any other explanations then Ricardo?"

"Listen her Julius. I don't want to hear another **f*cking** wo-"

"Both of you be quiet. We'll just have _him_ tell us."

My mind was currently going into to a nuclear meltdown of emotions as I took in the scene in front of me. Firstly, Ricardo stood next to my bed and was dressed in full battle gear, which for him wasn't much more than his normal clothes. However, it was what he was covered head to toe in that worried me. Blood. Nigh every in inch of his body was covered in fresh blood, and although I, as a person who had been studying Pre-veterinary medicine in college, had dealt with copious amounts of blood before, the sheer amount was staggering. And the smell made me want to puke.

Following Ricardo, the knight who had examined me before, Julius, stood directly in front of me and glared at me in a very accusatory and demeaning fashion. He was dressed in full battle gear as well. His, however, was a little more substantial. He had traded out his cloth clothing for what seemed like heavily decorated leather pads, vest, and braces. This was all under a large white cloak which went down to the very bottoms of his feet, barely hovering above the ground. His white gloved hand rested on a simple sword that was sheathed at his waste, and the fact that he was a knight in this world made me scared to even think what he could do with it.

And finally, a familiar angel walked into the room and when she did another emotion was added to the thrall of emotions that already were tearing at my mind. Awe. However, when I saw the dark clothes she was wearing, the dark veil covering her face, and the pained expression that she held, that awe quickly turned to dread. She slowly moved towards me after silencing the other two and walked past both of them to stand directly next to me. The expression on her face had none of the confidence that I had seen earlier. No… her face was filled with controlled anger, betrayal, and sadness. I know I hardly knew her and that these feelings for her were probably nothing but a result of my heightened emotional state due to my stress, but the anger I felt as I stared into those beautiful eyes, now clouded with dirty emotions that should never have dared come near her, was possibly the most honest and true rage that I had ever felt. However, before I could speak a word, she began questioning me in a cold and efficient manner.

"State your name?"

"Uh… wait! What's going o- "

"Name?"

Her response was cold and completely lacking in emotion. It stunned me and left even that great anger that I had felt, silent. I had no choice but to comply.

"…Conor O'Donovan."

"Where are you from?"

"That's…"

"Answer the question?"

 _"_ _Sh*t. I can't tell her that I'm from another world. That... thing said I would die! How can I…"_

My internal thoughts were interrupted by Julius and Ricardo resuming their argument.

"We should kill him immediately, Madam Hoshin. He is far too suspicious."

"We don't have any proof Julius. You can't kill a man who has been nothing but compliant and understanding to our rude demands just he's in a suspicious position."

 **"** ** _And that compliancy is worth more than the lives of Mimi and the others?!"_**

An oppressive silence filled the room after Julius' last outburst. " _Wait… wasn't Mimi one of those puffballs. Cost them their lives! Did they…"_ I quickly realized that whatever was happening that had caused this lockdown situation was killing people, even strong people who could use magic, and that they thought I was the culprit. I finally realized Madam Hoshin's apparel and behavior. She had lost some of her closest guards who she probably trusted very much. And while I know, I didn't personally cause whatever was going on, the realization that my being in this world may have indirectly caused this, quickly seized my heart and filled me with despair. I knew that if I told them where I was from I would die and that if I didn't they would kill me. The horrible conundrum thrust upon me seemed to have caused a physical change in my behavior as I heard Julius snort.

"Ha! The culprit reveals his true colors. What's with that sad look. Was killing **500** not enough for you?!"

I was shocked speechless, my argument for my defense dying in my throat. 500… 500 people died. Before I could even mount an attempt at a defense for myself I felt a cold sensation against my neck followed by a short and soft pain. I looked down to see the blade of Julius' resting on my neck. I gasped as I saw a thin trickle of blood go down my neck from where he had made a tiny incision. Tears began to stream down my face.

"…I don't want to die. Not like…"

"It's too late for apologies, you **_monster_**."

Then, after a flash of silver and a quick pain in my neck, my entire world went black once again.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Sucks to be you, huh?"

I stood in a grand Church. Its walls were made of a beautiful and vibrant marble, that was so bright that it seemed to give off its own light. The walls were covered in absolutely stunning stained glass, which allowed a bright light to stream in from all directions causing quite the intoxicating kaleidoscope effect. These stained-glass windows depicted epic scenes that I could hardly comprehend; a man fighting a beast with 1 leg and 8 arms with wicked claws at the end, a beautiful wedding where the bride was dressed in flame, and a dark and starry night where a crowd of people stood staring at the sky. Though the Church lacked any pews or benches there were a great number of lit candles which cast off their own light. I finally took a look at myself, only to find myself dressed in the exact clothes I died in. Remembering the fact that I was dead brought my attention back to the person who had spoken to me.

There, in front of me, was a boy of seemingly about 12 years of age. His skin shone as white as alabaster and gave off a soft light of its own. He had shining blond hair that went down past his shoulders and was dressed in some simple white robes. His eyes were locked onto mine and their silver iris' seemed to bore deep into my soul. He gave me a knowing smile before hopping backwards and beginning to float away. He seemed to be riding on the air itself as he leaned back and the air seemed to take him where he wanted to go.

"Who are you? And where am I? And- "

I only managed to get those two questions out as before the young boy began to laugh hysterically. His voice was soft and rich and sounded much to mature to be coming out of 12-year-old. Though I doubt he was actually 12. After a solid minute of his laughing he calmed down and looked at me with a somewhat pitying look, still somewhat giggling.

"Just give a minute, alright? I need to calm down. your face though… ha-ha… it was priceless. Ah… Well, I suppose I should answer your questions."

He straightened his back and splayed his arms wide as he was some magician about to perform a wonderful magic trick and was giving his punchline.

"My name is Corona D'oro. Though, I am better known as Angel. I am one of the greater beings of this plane and have summoned you here to serve a single purpose. To act as my vassal in this realm and bring much glory and honor to my name."

He looked down at me expectantly, as if he had just told me I had won the lottery and was expecting to see me cheer or something. I, however was not cheering nor even smiling. I was currently trying to give him the most patronizing glare I could muster. This guy had been watching me! He had seen th-the utter **crap** I had to go through and here he was smiling! After a few seconds of awkward silence, he cleared his throat and continued.

"… As for where we are, this is a small alternate dimension of my own design which I use as my impromptu base of operations. I use to have a much grander home but after a certain scaly monster kicked us all out, I had to make do with what I had. Honestly, it sucks and I'm hoping to be able to return to my old place of residence or better soon. And that's where you come in."

The look he gave me next was one that I did not like. It was a mixture of expectation and contempt as if my entire existence was meant to serve his will and he thought I wasn't doing too well. He seemed to be waiting for me to say something so after a few moments of hesitation, I asked my 3rd question.

"Why can I go back in time?"

At that, his face lit up like a little kid looking at his presents under the Christmas tree. He swooped down on my level and stared at me directly in the eyes, dropping all remnants of the grace and regality he had been displaying before.

"Amazing isn't it!? You probably don't understand it fully yet, and don't worry, I won't spoil it for you. But can you believe how amazing it is!? I spent _decades_ working on creating that power and searched for such a long time before finally finding someone who could use it. And can you believe my surprise when someone like you turned out to be the best candidate"

I took a few steps back as he gradually advanced, his tone getting more and more excited with each and every word.

"It was perfect fit! You even bonded well with the second gift I gave you. Honestly, you were quite the diamond in the rut…"

His tone gradually slowed down and eventually he stopped talking completely as he realized how shocked I was at all of this. I had been taken from my world to act as this guy's servant so he could get back his old home. And I don't care how "amazing" a power is. Having to die every time for it to activate is absolutely horrible. Needless to say, I was angry again.

"Why the hell would you do that!? I was perfectly happy with my life! I certainly didn't want to up and disappear to work for some… **_Angel_** that I didn't even know in a world I knew nothing about. And why the hell would you choose me anyway?! I'm just a college student! And by the way, what the heck have you been doing while I was bloody murdered for something I didn't do!?

By the time, I had finished yelling, he had backed away into the air and had a thoughtful look on his face. I stared up at him, waiting for an answer. After a few moments, he turned towards me and his expression was a serious and solemn one, completely different from before.

"I apologize for my rudeness. I didn't pay nearly enough mind to your situation and I had forgotten that you had died 3 times already. However, the reason I chose you is because I have faith that you will not only be able to succeed at the task I am giving you but that you also would do it willingly. Don't be mistaken, I am not forcing you to stay, you may leave if you wish. However, I trust that after hearing my explanation, you will not be so eager to do so. So, please grant me but a few minutes of your time to explain and properly request your assistance."

I was not only shocked by his change of attitude but also by what he had said. He had complete faith in me. Why would he trust me? And what the hell did he expect me to do!? I debated within my heart whether I should bother listening to this guy, but eventually his honest words made me give him the benefit of the doubt and I gave him a slow nod to continue. He responded with a humble bow before continuing.

"As you already know, the country which you are currently in, was founded by a human making a pact with another great being of this world, the Dragon, around a thousand years ago, to jointly defeat the Jealous witch Satella. After defeating her, all of the of that king's descendants also made pacts with the dragon and the country grew and grew until it became the world power that it is today."

I nodded at the parts of this that I knew already, namely the stuff about the dragon and the king, but the "Satella" thing grabbed my attention.

 _"_ _Jealous Witch. That doesn't sound too good…"_

I would have asked him about it, but he continued before I could ask.

"However, a side of that that very few people know about is that there was a great war between this world's great beings to decide who would be the one to make the pact. It was quite the heated contest and a number of us were destroyed in the process. Somehow, after months of fighting I managed to get to a position where I was set to form the pact, but at the last second the Dragon asked for a truce and proposed another way to decide the victor. I was tired from the bloodshed and I saw the Dragon as no real threat to me, so I foolishly agreed. He tricked me. He claimed we were to have a one-on-one duel but instead he forced me into one-on-one match with Satella, which I barely escaped from alive, and then used that defeat as a way to destroy my position as the strongest and gather support for himself, claiming he had beaten me himself. By the time, I was able to properly inform the others of his treachery, he had already made pacts with a number of human kings and he had so much support that we could do nothing but wait for an opportunity to dethrone him"

He became quiet after this last statement and looked at me waiting for my response. I, on the other hand, was staring at the floor, mind running a mile a minute to try to comprehend what he had said and come up with a response.

 _"_ _He expects me to become some sort of champion and take the throne! What the Heck! How could he expect me to do that!? I'm a bloody college student! Why does he even want it so bad!? ... Wait a minute…"_

"Why is the Dragon being in charge a bad thing? I get that he cheated you out of the position, and that sucks, but if the people are used to being ruled by the dragon and everything's going fine under him, then what's the problem? Wouldn't it be more problematic to cause a revolution of some sorts?"

Corona gave out a short chuckle at my question and lowered himself back down to the floor, leaving him looking up at me, as he was about at stomach height. His face was a mixture of solemnness and… was that pity?

"I'm glad you put so much thought into it. However, there is a greater reason for me wanting to take up the position of patron to Lugunica. The Dragon is a self-less being and has done a wonderful job in maintaining the country. I doubt I will do the job as well as he has… There is simply one problem. The dragon is being corrupted. He has held his post for nigh a thousand years and the witch and her cultists have been constantly attacking and poisoning his land which in turn hurts and poisons him. His condition has been gradually worsening. I admit that my wish to be the patron of the country started out as a selfish one, but under the current circumstances, not having someone takeover would be far worse."

"…Why you?" I ask solemnly, my face turned away from him.

"What? I'm sorry… I don't understand"

"Why should you become the patron!? If I'm going to work for someone I want them to prove to me that they'll be the best for the job. If it turns out that another one of the great beings of this world would be better suited than I would want to work for them or just simply get out of their way."

He was silent for a few moments after my outburst, clearly giving great thought to his answer. The silence seemed to stretch on for minutes as he formulated his answer, and when he did he answered me with a slightly embarrassed and honest expression, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Honestly… I have nothing to show that I'm better. I personally think that I would make a better patron, and many of the other great beings would agree, as I still hold a good amount of support, but others would say that I am a jealous monster no better than the witch herself. Ultimately, I have nothing to show to you or say to you that could prove that I am better than them. I do, however, have an offer that I think would please us both. Would you like to hear it?"

I nod, my mind filled with anticipation and worry as to what his "offer" might entail. This guy was quite the powerful being it seemed. He could probably just force me to do what he wants, and simply wants my cooperation to save himself the trouble. So, what kind of offer could he possibly have?

"As I said earlier, you can leave at any time you wish. And this offer would still be in effect even if I sent you back to Lugunica, if you ever wished to give up, you could just say the word and "poof!" you'd be back where I picked you up, with no time having passed at all, which I can assume, you would like very much to do so. However, as I watched you live your life, I got the feeling that you wouldn't just stand by as people are needlessly put in danger, and judging by your actions thus far, I was right to think so. So, my offer is this- I will leave the option of you being able to leave at any time, and guarantee your ability to do so. I will also gift you with the powers and support necessary to work towards our goal of you taking the throne and myself becoming the patron of Lugunica. I cannot, however, guarantee our success. Much of that depends on you. In return you will give your all, in fighting for that goal, and promise to do your best to not give up and to remain loyal to our goal. To prove to you my conviction and as a sign of friendship, I entrust you with this… a piece of my soul-stone."

He then handed me a small piece of stone he had inside a pocket in his robe. It seemed to be shooting light out of his hand even as it was completely covered by his fingers. As he placed it in my hand I got a brief look at it before he covered it with my other hand. It was a small oval stone, about the size of a marble and was unlike anything I had ever seen. It shone like a thousand diamonds and seemed to give off every color imaginable and then some. I kept staring at my clasped hand, just remembering that instant of beauty and was only knocked out of this stupor by him continuing to speak.

"This is essentially a piece of my soul. I cannot take this from you once you accept it and you could destroy it if you wished. By entrusting it to you, I am hoping that you will understand that I am in no way, shape, or form attempting to manipulate you or control you. I want you to work for this goal from the bottom of your heart, as I am, and I want you to trust me. Now, understand that if you accept this, you are agreeing to my earlier offer and promise to do your best in winning the throne. Understanding that… what say you?"

I looked between his face, the part of his soul I now held in my hands, and my own reflection in the marble floor of the Church a number of time's as I thought his offer over.

 _"_ _If all that he's saying is true then… but what if he's lying… Then I'm screwed and this guy is going to use me to take over the world or some other classic evil plan. But… if he's not lying… then I can't stand by as innocent people get hurt. Even if the other candidates brought forward by the other great beings are better, I've seen that they're not there in time to save those 500 people, and I can't just abandon them. Besides, the whole soul-stone thing seems pretty serious and the same goes for my ability to leave at any time, so… the choice is pretty obvious…"_

"I trust you Corona. I'll do my best to take the throne and get you to take the Dragon's place."

As I said those words I saw his face light up in a smile so bright and innocent that, for a second, I thought he was actually a twelve-year-old. I could see the beginning of tears come out of his eyes as he jumped up and hugged me, yelling his thanks as he began to sob.

"Thank you so much! I-I promise I'll do my best too! W-W-W-We'll win! You'll see! Augh! Thank you s-so much!"

I buckled under the sudden weight and fell over onto my back. I was shocked to see this kind of childish behavior from this thousand-year-old spirit. Weren't they supposed to be old and wise and stuff. But then again… I guess this has been this guy's dream for about a thousand years now, so finally seeing it within your grasp would bring almost anyone to tears. As I thought on his dream as he began bawling into my shoulder, the image of Madam Hoshin's- of Anastasia's crying face filled my mind and my heart was filled by a new conviction.

 ** _"_** ** _I am going to protect her… I am going to win the throne and make sure that she gets to be happy."_**

I clenched my fist with my newfound confidence and noticed something. I opened my hand to see that the stone that was there was no longer shining. It seemed to be plain old piece of marble. When I shook Corona to get his attention, he took one look at it and returned his gaze to me with an apologetic look on his face.

"About that Conor… I'm really sorry, but this is going to hurt. **A lot**."

"Wha-Augh!"

My words were interrupted by a searing pain filling my entire blood. It felt like my skin was being torn out cell by cell rolled through lemon juice. My mind felt like it was being bulldozed over and fracked for oil as the pain was digging into every recess of my psyche and seemed to be painfully extracting it. My blood felt like it was evaporating in some places and like it had turned to stone in others. I can only guess that I was screaming as I couldn't hear over the pain in my mind and I only lasted for a few seconds of this before my reality, for the fourth time, faded to black.

/

 _I hope you guys enjoyed! If you have any questions, feel free to ask and, as always, any reviews will be gladly received. I ask that you please be polite and constructive, but if all you have are negative things, then please berate as you see necessary. I understand that this is probably incredibly different than what the world is like in the light novels, but this idea formed as I watched the anime so I wanted to try writing it._


	4. A Sickening Start

I woke up to the sound of a large number of people talking at once. I opened my eyes only to be blinded the next second from the harsh rays of the midday sun. I stumbled back and accidentally bumped into someone and we both fell over. I apologized a number of times as I rolled off of whoever it was and rubbed my eyes and blinked until I could see clearly. When I looked to the person who I had knocked over, who was now kneeling and picking up fruit that I must have made her drop, my blood ran cold and my heart began to pound in my ears like some kind of ancient gong. That white, frilly dress. The long brown braid across her shoulder. There was no mistaking it. This was the woman who killed me during my 2nd life. I quickly backed up and jumped up onto my feet, ready to run at a moment's notice. She on the other hand simply continued kneeling and picking up the apples that she had bought.

 _"_ _Weird… why isn't she killing me? And where's that knife she had? And why is it so bright out he…oh."_

As I looked at our surroundings hoping to glean some information about why she wasn't killing me, I noticed. I was back in the first courtyard that I had spawned in when I came to this world. The same crowd was milling, the same vendors were yelling and swearing at each other from across the street, and the same girl had been walking nearby me. I gasped as I realized that I had been sent to literally the exact start of my time here. I groaned as I realized that all the possible leads and assistance I could have gotten if I spawned a little later had now gone "poof".

 _"_ _Darn that Angel. Now how the hell am I supposed to prevent those people from dying… I suppose I could just try to repeat what I had done in the past exactly but I'm not sure I'd be able to act inconspicuously and- "_

My line of thought was interrupted by a few sharp pokes in my back. I turned around only to find myself face-to-face with my killer again. I backtracked hoping to get away as fast as possible.

"I'm not just gonna let you run away you know!"

Her voice was calm but demanding and though it was a little different than last time and there were a lot more people here I still got this intense feeling of murderous intent from her. I prepared to run as fast as I could in any direction I could…

"You need to pay me for the apples you squished when you knocked me over."

"What?"

Her face grew even more annoyed and I could have sworn she started to pout a little.

"Like I said, you need to pay me back for the apples that you made me drop and were squished. I kept count. It'll be 7 bronze."

She held her hand out expectantly, her basket now tucked under her other arm. I reached into my pocket to grab the coins I had gotten from Charles but…

 _"_ _Darn that Angel!"_

"Um… I hate to break it to you but I don't have any mon-"

"I can tell. I'm saying give me something of equal value. You've got a large pack on. Surely there's something worth some money in there."

 _"_ _Guh. What happened to this woman?"_

She was much nicer when I talked to her before. Her eyes then had been worried and a little scared, both for my sake and for her own. But now she just looked at me like I was the dirt she scraped off her shoe and expected me to just magically pull something out of my pack worth some money. I tugged of my backpack and set it on the ground. When I opened it she and other people around us had their attention grabbed by the curious sound that was my backpack's zipper. I just ignored them and pulled out something that I think would suffice. I handed her the plastic cylinder that I had pulled out of my backpack causing the liquid inside to slosh back and forth.

"This is called a water bottle. It's made of a curious see-through material and by using this mechanism here, you can store water in here and it will stay in no matter how you hold it. It's a simple tool from my homeland."

While I wasn't expecting some incredible reaction, the harsh and critical look that she gave my water bottle as she examined it sent some shivers down my spine. She shook it a little and puled the cap on and off a few times to get the hang of it. After about a minute she sighed and put it in her basket before turning around.

"I guess this will do. It's interesting and might be somewhat useful. I won't drag you to the guards then. Good day."

I watched as she walked away and I'm glad I did. As I watched those frilly waves of her dress sway back and forth I saw a familiar and soul-chilling object. That silver knife. Simple and plain, yet beautiful in its entirety. It bore no insignia nor any personal markings, however I would never forget the knife that tore a hole in my throat. That settled it. I wasn't mistaken about the girl. I walked in the opposite direction, a plan beginning to form in my mind. Step 1). Get money.

However, as I walked away I could have sworn I heard someone call my name. I turned around, looking for the person responsible but the crowded street offered no answers. I returned to my original path, although now I had a sense of unease at the odd occurrence. I did my best to shake it off and continue walking, ultimately ending up at a separate and smaller marketplace. Tis one seemed to have a lot more produce and small items and was less crowded. It actually smelled quite nice and I stood there a moment, doing my best to relax my uneasy heart.

 _"_ _Calm down, Conor"_ I told myself _"You're fine right now. You've at least got a little while before she goes on a rampage and you've already found her. No need to panic."_

I walked over to one of the many vendors on the street. The man running the stand seemed to be about 40 and had biceps and thighs the width of my head. He was heavily tanned and wore nothing but some white cloth pants. As I neared him he looked over, clearly being able to tell that I meant to talk to him, and I put on my most easygoing and innocent smile. Though I felt the unease in my stomach continue to grow I pushed through. My years of acting experience began to pay off as the man's initial suspicious glare at my odd clothes and mannerisms softened at my smile. When I neared his stand and began talking, I focused on getting him as trusting of me as possible. Flattery and innocence.

"Excuse me, sir. I saw that your stand seemed to be quite popular so I'm hoping you could help me sell some goods."

Sadly, this man was no idiot. He gave out a small snort and cleared his throat before responding.

"I'm gonna give you the same price whether I like you or not, just show me what you got."

 _"_ _Well that sucks, I was hoping I could get him to give me a place to sleep too but I guess that's not happening. Maybe I could… No! You can't worry about that right now! You have a job to do. Get it together!"_

"Uh… you alright? Listen, If, you want to trick someone, just head downtown, but don't cause a scene here alright."

I was snapped out of my internal debate when the man reached over the edge of his stand to lightly knock me on the head, as if to emphasize to not cause a scene. As I realized that I must have had a pretty big scowl on my face, I immediately looked away in embarrassment and brought my backpack onto the table. The man gave a hearty laugh at my reaction but became silent once he saw what I had on the table. Before he could ask any questions, I preceded to open up all of the pockets and empty all of the contents of my backpack onto his stand. My phone, my textbooks, my calculator, my pencils and pens, even my extra change of clothes. As I took them all out and saw them, lying on a stand in some foreign world, the last vestiges of my original life up for sale, I suddenly got the urge to quickly hide them all away, say goodbye to the man, and run. But I realized that I needed to stand my ground. I need to do all I can to even save one person, no matter how many times I have to die. And since I have no idea how many lives I have, I have to make each and every one count.

"That's all of it. If you want to ask me about anything, just say so. And I'm looking for as much money as possible but I'm willing to barter."

It was only when I took a small step back to give him some space and bumped into someone that I noticed how much my surroundings had changed in those short few moments. I was surrounded by a small crowd of people, all peering to look at the strange wares I just pulled out of my backpack. I nearly jumped onto the stand I was so shocked and even the vendor himself seemed to be a little lost for words at the size of the crowd. However, his face soon became covered by a wicked grin and he motioned to someone in the crowd. I tried to follow who he was pointing to but the crowd moved around so much I couldn't follow. I soon gave up looking as I noticed some of the people talking excitedly.

"Woah! What do you think that does?"

"Momma. Momma. What's going on?"

"He's probably just some con artist…."

While I took a little offense at that last one, I was honestly shocked to see such an open reaction to such strange items randomly popping up in the market. Though I suppose magic being an everyday thig would help people be more open to strange things. Then, one of the last things that I expected to happen at that moment, caused me to nearly burst out laughing.

"I'll take the nice pants for 20 silver."

One guy, a simply dressed young man who stood at about my height, grinned at me evilly and judging by that he knew exactly the kind of sh*t-storm that he just caused. I felt the unease in my stomach spike and I barely had any time to dive out of the way before the crowd surged forward, realizing that they could barter for the stuff. Bids were thrown out like crazy and in a few seconds I was pushed out of the crowd, unable to hold my place. I watched as my precious last items from my old world were gradually sold and resold like it was some kind of auction. The man appeared to have expected this and soon became a bit of an auctioneer as he called out for people's bids and occasionally asked me some questions about the objects. I gave him basic and unsuspicious answers as best I could, given my limited knowledge of the world. It only took about 10 minutes for everything, even my backpack, to be sold. I trudged back to the vendor, a deep sense of betrayal coming into my mind. Here this guy was standing around counting the money he just earned from MY stuff. Like heck I was just gonna let him do as he please with it. I began moving quicker until I was storming towards him and only stopped when I was right in front of him, slamming my hands on the table.

"You better give me my money right now or else I'll- "

"Here you go."

My outburst was silenced by the man dropping a large bag of coins' in-between my hands. I was stunned into silence as I saw the shining silver and gold coins being barely contained by the leather bag. I looked between him and the bag a few times, very much so confused about what the hell just happened. He gave another laugh at my expression, I guess he found them pretty funny, and called someone over.

"Hey Nick! Get your butt over here and explain to the poor guy what just happened."

I looked over to see the same exact guy that I had seen start the bidding walk over from a short distance away. He was dressed in some pretty dusty clothes but other than the wear and tear they seemed nice. He had a large and thick leather belt that hung at his waist, which did nothing but boast quite the large knife. He was pretty lean and almost as tanned as the vendor. However, it was the look on his face that explained the situation to me before he could even start talking. He was grinning in complete and utter mischievous joy as he walked over to stand beside the vendor, suddenly showing off a great amount of familial resemblance. It was then that everything fell into place. And the feeling of unease grew. I could feel a scowl come over my face and both the man and Nick seemed to notice it but said nothing.

"You're the person he motioned to in the crowd, aren't you?"

"Oh… You're perceptive. Yeah, that was me. So, what?"

"So, that means that the whole "improvised auction" was a scam to attract attention using my items."

This time it was the older man who spoke.

"Yeah… Sorry about that. It's a common practice in the capital since lots of foreigners come here knowing next to nothing. They come up to a merchant's stall and tell them they want to sell a bunch of stuff. The vendor then attracts a crowd and subtly starts the bidding using an assistant. Then the money starts flying, the items disappear, and the crowd disperses. This leaves the merchant with a whole lot of temporary fame, as people will return hoping to find such items again, and the owner of the item gets some of the best prices possible. A major Win-Win."

The man's face beamed with pride and happiness as he told me this. He seemed to honestly love this tactic and truly believe in its usefulness. He also seemed generally happy to be able to get me as much money as possible. However, my recent encounters with people that seemed nice and worrying hadn't exactly been the best. And I also still had that odd and creepy feeling I couldn't shake off. So, I stuck to my guns and made sure that he was being honest.

"So, you're saying this is all the money you were paid for my goods."

He gave out another short laugh at that, but this one was a lot more solemn then the others had been. His son piped up in his defense.

"I can't blame you for worrying man, but my dad wouldn't do that. Ask anyone around. He's been selling here since he was like a kid. Practically founded this part of the market."

While I still held my doubts, I suppose I should just be happy with the large amount I got and not cause any unneeded trouble. I held the bag tightly in my arms and backed away from them before giving them a short bow. I looked at them with the sincerest smile I could muster, as I truly hope they are telling the truth.

"Thank you for everything. I really appreciate it."

They were both stunned silent form my apparent shift I moods and the older man looked over at me with a worrying look in his eyes.

"Hey… are you alright? You seem kind of …scared.

I was shocked at his words. _Panicky? Are you kidding me! I'm fine._ But even as I thought that, when I tried to turn around, my feet wouldn't listen to me. I looked down only to see them shaking and quivering as if they were ready to buckle any second. Even my arms were unconsciously gripping the bag as if it was the one way to stay alive. I could feel bile start to rise in my throat and a feeling of terror stopped me from being able to breath properly. I gasped for air but it didn't come. And this wasn't like Angel's time stopping. No. This felt more… sinister. I looked over at Nick and his father and they both immediately jumped over the stand and ran towards me. I fell before they could reach me and as my vision went black, I thought: _I really hope they catch me._

 _/_

 _Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed. I apologize for the slightly shorter chapter. I was kind of drawing a blank as how to get to a certain point, but I managed! As for the long break between this and the last chapter, I regret to inform you that I have lost a lot of my ability to type during the day, so from now on the breaks in-between chapters will be longer. I am truly sorry about this and I hope you all continue to read "Blade of Hope". As always reviews are welcome, both positive and negative. No matter how harsh, please review if you have any issues or suggestions. I really appreciate it! Thanks again so much for reading and I promise to do my best to hurry the next chapter along!_


	5. A Dream, a Shield, and a Knight

_My dreams were filled with images of a beautiful lake. I stood a few inches above the lakes' surface, held up by some unknown force, and from that vantage point I surveyed my surroundings. The lakes' surface was completely flat and reflected the light of the full moon above it in such a way that the entire surface of the lake seemed to be made of shining silver. There was naught but the single full moon in the sky. There were no stars or constellations to be seen. Just the single shining moon. In that way, the moon seemed almost lonely in the night sky. The lake was surrounded on all sides by a great pine forest. Its undergrowth was so thick that I could not see more than a few feet in, but even without seeing it, I felt that something was there… watching me. I began to feel that same sense of unease that had plagued me earlier. I took solace in the moon, hoping to calm my nerves down by staring up at it, hoping that whatever was in there couldn't get me where I was._

 _However, as I stared up at the moon, the feeling of unease only grew, causing me to break out into a cold sweat. My breathing became more panicked and I began to struggle against what was holding me into place. After a few moments of struggling, an eerie sense of calm washed over my body, and I stopped struggling. Confused by this feeling, I looked up at the moon again, hoping that the one source of light in this place may have some answers. But when I looked at the moon, all sense of hope and safety disappeared in a second. The great white moon above me was being… devoured. A great mouth had formed out of the darkness and was biting down on the moon, tearing chunks off. I could only gaze in horror as the moon was gradually eaten completely and the only light left was a small glimmer that the still calm lake gave off. The mouth turned towards me and gave me smile that seemed incredibly…_ _ **human.**_ _It then disappeared without a trace, fading into the night sky._

 _I stood for a few moments, in utter and complete silence, while a few tears rolled down my face. I felt devoid of all hope and could only stare at the lake in shock as I attempted to understand what was going on. However, like nightmares often do, it didn't just let me cry and wake up. No… It was going to force me awake. I was snapped out my shock by a great rumbling that began to shake the earth. The lakes' surface became distorted with ripples and the soft light that it gave off suddenly flickered and died. I was left in complete and utter darkness as the rumbling from the forest grew louder and louder. Suddenly, new light sources started appearing all around me. Although, I would rather have been in pitch darkness than be surrounded by those. They were large eyes, with red iris' and incredibly large pupils. They stared at me and gradually grew in number until they completely surrounded me. At this point I was trembling in fear and the feeling of unease was at the strongest it had ever been. As I watched the eyes I suddenly saw a burst of purple light and a hand that seemed to be made out of pure darkness blasted forward, seemingly straight at my heart. I cried out as I struggled to get out of the way but was unable to do anything to stop it. Just when I was about to give up hope and close my eyes I heard a familiar voice that seemed to come from within my heart say:_

 _"_ _That's my partner, you filthy witch! I'm not going to just let you take him like that… Now_ _ **begone!**_ _"_

 _At the word begone, a shining blade suddenly shot out of the darkness of the sky and pierced the hand, causing them both to fall in the water and causing the hand to disappear immediately. The blade seemed to fly through the water as it switched directions and soared towards me. The eyes in the forest were widening and they seemed to be fading back away, but not leaving. The blade shot out go the water and floated in the air right in front of me, pointing its blade towards the eyes. Then the blade seemed to multiply as more and more blades appeared alongside it and formed a circle around me. The eyes seemed to panic as they suddenly bean to disappear, one by one. They fled into the darkness and the lake became peaceful again, reflecting the shimmering silver light of the swords that had appeared. Under closer inspection, the swords appeared to be longswords with no markings or symbols, just simple plain guards and hilts. As the light returned to the lake and the swords began to fan out and disappear, I felt an incredible dreariness take over me and I closed my eyes to rest…_

I woke up to silence. I lay still for a moment, eyes closed and still unaware of where I am, just to calm my racing heart down. It was beating like a hummingbird's heart and I was covered in sweat. After a few moments, I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. I was in a small dark room, furnished with only the bare necessities, that had only one door and a single window opposite to it. It was the middle of the night judging by the cloudless night sky I could see through the window. I was all alone in the room, but there seemed to have been a person here as a chair was pulled up next to the bed and there was a small book and an empty glass on it.

 _"_ _That merchant family must've taken me in. Guess I was a little too suspicious of them…"_

I tries to keep my mind off of it, but the images from that dream kept returning to my head. I was still sweating from the stress it had put me through, and the realism of that dream made me think that it wasn't just a dream.

"If that was some kind of warning or prophecy then I better keep my guard up around forests and lakes. And apparently glowing swords are my friends…?"

I was honestly completely confused. My mind was spinning in every direction at once and I could hardly keep up.

 _"_ _I knew that voice in my dreams was Angel's so maybe those swords were his power or something? And what the hell were those eyes?! Were they gonna kill me or…"_

Questions like these kept flying through my head until I heard a crash outside. It sounded as if someone had landed on something and fallen on their back hard. I quickly threw off my coves and stood up, but as I began to walk over to the window, my legs fell out from under me as realized that that eerie feeling was back. I struggled to stop myself from puking up whatever food I had had in the last few days as I got up and limped over to the window. I looked out of it into what I could only assume was a small alley in-between two buildings in the city. A faint light from a lantern outside shone upon a bloody and eerily quiet scene, the origin of my eerie feeling becoming more and more apparent, and I was socked stiff as horror replaced the anxiety inside of me. There, a floor or two below me in the soft light from the nearby lantern, stood the young girl with the braids in the frilly dress. She stood, holding the same plain dagger that she had used to kill me, over the dead body of the man I had met earlier, Nick's father. He wasn't moving, despite having just been stabbed a second ago. However, as I forced myself to look closer I learned the reason why. He had been stabbed, not only in his throat, but also both of his wrists and straight into his heart. There was blood splattered on all of the walls and the smell quickly began to rise. My mind seemed to finally fully register what I was seeing and I was knocked out of my shock by the irresistible urge to barf. I quickly ducked inside and dry heaved a few times before I realized that in this timeline I hadn't eaten for a few days. Images of the bloody scene flashed through my head, eventually being joined by my own final moments and that horrifying nightmare I had just a few moments before. As I gasped for breath I heard a door open and my eyes shot up to see Nick and a small girl standing in the doorway looking sleepy. Nick, seeing me on the floor, quickly walked forward to help me up but was stopped when he saw my expression.

"You alright?... You don't look so good."

I could only look at them in horror before turning me head back to the window, expecting to see the young girl there, covered in blood, knife at the ready. Instead, I just heard the sound of my heavy breathing and the soft yawn of the child next to Nick. Seeing my interest in the window, Nick moved over to it slowly and peered out. I tried to stop him but I couldn't get myself to stand up. I couldn't see his face, but judging by the sudden stiffness of his body, he had seen his father's corpse. Eventually, he hung his head and sobs began to rock his body. I managed to drag myself up as the little girl who was with Nick walked over to me, apparently unaware of the severity of the situation at hand, as young children often are.  
"Are you okay, mister?"

"I- "

My words got caught in the back of my throat and died there as I glanced over the little girl's head. The braided girl, covered in blood with knife still in hand, was standing in the doorway. She had an incredibly blank expression on her face… the same one she had on her face when she killed me. Before I could even take a breath, she suddenly leaped towards us with superhuman speed, knife raised above her head to stab us. I grabbed the little girl as quickly as I could and attempted to shield her with my body, hoping that I could at least buy her some time. I waited for the knife to impale itself in my back or neck… but it never came. I turned around at the sound of metal hitting the floor and saw something incredible. Behind me, a glowing shield had appeared, and had shattered the knife upon impact. It was a large shield, of a kind of Western European style… a knight's shield. The girl just stood there, her normally deadpan face now covered with a look of shock and… fear?

"What- how? What the hell is go- "

She was interrupted by a sudden crash and I looked over to see Nick holding the chair that had held the book and glass over his head as he ran towards the girl. There were tears streaming down his face as he screamed bloody murder at the girl, who had now focused her attention on him and was backing up, a fearful expression on her face. That look was so different than what she had been showing earlier that I honestly thought it was a different person. I tried to cry out to stop Nick but he couldn't hear me over his own cries and then it was too late. Nick slammed the young girl over the head with the large wooden chair, causing it to break into pieces, and causing the girl to fall over, a small pool of blood forming around her head. I didn't even need to check to see that she was dead.

We stood there in relative silence for what seemed like hours, the only noise being myself and Nicks heavy breathing, and the whimpering of the little girl as she cried onto my shoulder. I averted my eyes from the corpse and stared at Nick as he stood over her body. His face seemed to be a whirlpool of emotions, ultimately settling on one. Happiness. He looked over at me with a relieved and thankful smile on his face as if he had _not_ murdered someone in front of me, but had instead just realized that I had woken up after passing out. I couldn't even tell if there was any sadness in his eyes from seeing his father dead. He just stood there smiling… and the eerie feeling returned to my stomach. The horror that must have shown on my face made him smile all the wider. I quickly stood up, holding the girl close to me as I bolted for the door. But a sudden pain in my back caused me to fall over. I managed to shield the young girl from the fall but the pain on my back became unbearable. I tried to get up but Nick walked up slowly beside me and kicked me across the room as if I weighed nothing. I slammed into the opposite wall and fell to the ground, a resounding crack and shocking pain kindly informing me that I had broken something important in my arm. I screamed as I clutched at my right arm, now bent the opposite way it should be., and I only noticed the blade coming down towards me after it was too late. A sudden pain erupted in my chest and I looked down in horror, as I saw a piece of the silver knife sticking out of the center of my chest. My screaming was replaced by hacking and coughing as blood filled my throat and mouth, the taste of iron becoming overwhelming. One of my lungs had probably been punctured.

"Ack!... huh. Ni-… Ha…hy- "

I couldn't even speak and the pain kept me from forming coherent sentences, even in my head. All of my pain slowly faded away as I felt my body begin to shut down. I barely managed to look over in time to see Nick slowly and purposefully walk towards the little girl who sat crying in the center of the room. I tried to call out to her but I could only sputter and cough. Thankfully, my weak sputtering seemed to have grabbed her attention and when she looked up I could see her look of hope at Nick. I tried to cry out to her again, but I could hardly make a sound and my vision was going black. I could only stare at horror as Nick raised the knife, that same gleeful expression in his eyes. The little girl stared up at him with a confused expression on her face, never once suspecting Nick of betraying her. I closed my eyes, hoping to not have to witness Nick murdering the little girl, but before I could, a white robed knight burst through the door and with one hand slammed Nick in the chest sending him flying the window into the alley and, judging from the sickening crack, into the stone wall of the of the opposite building. The man swooped down to grab the little girl and when he noticed me he began to move towards me as well, but after a moment of viewing the full extent of my injuries, his face took on a pitying look and he bowed in my direction. I faded into darkness once again soon after that, but I could clearly remember one thing about the knight. His shining red hair….

My eyes snapped open to the sound of metal breaking. I was utterly confused by my surroundings, the phantom pains of my earlier injuries plaguing my body, but a certain young girl crying into my shoulder brought me back to reality. I turned around and surveyed the scene around me and was shocked to see that I hadn't gone back far at all. I was kneeling in the center of the room where Nick and his father had taken me, shielding the girl from the braided young woman's attack. Thankfully, I had appeared right after that glowing shield had spawned and broken her knife. That same look of fear covering her face and the same still body language that made her seem as if she was frozen. The memory of that face on the floor bleeding profusely ran through my mind and I quickly looked over at Nick, who was just beginning to grab the chair. I made a split-second decision. If I tried to stop Nick, then the girl might continue her rampage as I'm not sure whether or not this non-violent state is permanent. However, I can't let Nick kill her if this girl is being possessed. Not to mention, it was after Nick killed her that he went psycho, so there's probably some correlation. Because of that, I quickly released the little girl and ran at the braided girl as fast as I can, and tackled her around the waist, slamming her into the wall. I mentally thank my one year of football, for teaching me how to tackle. I could hear her gasp for air as she got the wind knocked out of her and when I released her she fell to the floor, unconscious. I gave out a sigh of relief as I heard Nick set down the chair, and I took that opportunity to sit down on the bed to catch my breath.

"What's going on here!?"

I look up to see that same knight with red hair burst into the room, quickly surveying the scene. Now that I got a better look at him I could see that he was tall and broad with a large and ornate sword at his waist. Its gilded handle seemed to be covered in… are those claw marks! He was dressed in the same kind of armor that Julius was when he… killed me. Wow… that brings back some bad memories.

Before I could fall into a myriad of bad memories, the knight stepped forward and squatted down, checking the braided girls pulse. Nick stood in silence, tears of sadness and anger rolling down his face, before finally running over and hugging the little girl. I stood there for a few seconds before I finally decided to speak up.

"Um… Listen! Sir…"

"Reinhardt Van Astraea, at your service."

At that line, the man stood up and gave a practiced and precise bow with a very serious look on his face. He was pretty young, probably not much older than me, and his face seemed to be very youthful and bright. Although, the current situation seemed to be tiring him greatly. He looked past me and towards Nick and the little girl, whom I could only assume is his sister or something, and his face grew even more solemn. He motioned for some men who were outside the room, dressed in more plain armor, to escort those two out. I moved to follow them but Reinhardt held his arm out in front of me stopping me from moving. When I looked at him, he had one of those "we need to talk" looks. I sighed and took the opportunity to sit down on the couch and rest for a moment. I hadn't quite gotten over the relapse of going back so I felt very nauseated at the moment. That and the images of the most recent deaths kept flashing through my mind. The knight, probably assuming I was sick from the fighting or the stress, patted me on the back and pulled up the chair so he could look at me straight in the eyes. His eyes were bright blue and seemed to be filled with incredible energy. He seemed to be staring directly into my soul and I began to wonder whether the knights of this and learned this in knight school or something because how similar it was to Julius' glare was scary.

"How did you recognize me?"

My head perked up at his question and for a moment I was stumped as to why he was asking me that, but I soon realized the answer. When he burst into the room this time, I must have looked relieved to see him almost immediately… as if I was expecting to see him(Which I was).Now that I think about it, that is a very good reason to suspicious of someone. I quickly tried to come up with an answer that wouldn't be too suspicious. I really couldn't afford to get in trouble with the local law enforcement.

"I… I just recognize you from the streets. I've seen you walking around a few times."

How to bullsh*t 101 by Conor O'Donovan.

"Is that so? Your new in town, aren't you?

I don't like where this is going…

"Pretty much. I just came by a few days ago, why?"

The smile that climbed onto his face at my answer was somehow both kind and sadistic at the same time. And DANG was it scary.

"Well then sir, you were lying earlier. Because I haven't been here for the last few weeks."

How to call Conor out on his bullshit 101 by Reinhardt van Astraea

I gave out an awkward laugh as he continued to look at me with that stupid happy expression of his, but that laugh quickly died when he motioned for one of the other men to bring in some chains. It was only then that I realized that I was probably the number one suspect right now. And although Nick's testimony would save me from being executed as I murder anyone, as I was being dragged away from their house in the dead of night, a soldier on either side of me, I wanted to be saved. **_Now!_**


	6. A Wise Smile

The cell I was taken to was far from… nice. It was a simple 7ft by 7ft by 7ft cube (And yes those are the exact measurements. I checked) and was cut into the stone in the basement of what I could only assume to be a guard station. It had been a large wooden and stone building with the emblem of a knight's helm hanging over the door. The place seemed to be pretty busy when I was brought in, and to my surprise, there was absolutely no reaction to my arrest from anyone in the building. They just tossed me into this cell saying "We'll deal with you later" and then they left. Now, don't get me wrong. I appreciate the privacy and silence of the pitch-black basement of a medieval guardhouse as much of the next guy. But I am getting sick and tired of fighting of rats. Rats! I mean I get this is a medieval world but don't most fantasy worlds have easy solutions to pest problems like this. My mind strayed back to the piles of earth dragon dung in the middle of the road and my faith in this fantasy world's magic plummeted.

I did, however, seriously appreciate the time to think and ponder that my cell has given me, I needed the time to finally let my emotions catch up to me. A few minutes after the guards had left, once I was pretty sure that they wouldn't come back, I finally let myself break down to tears. I cried onto the hard-stone floor as the realization that I probably wouldn't be able to save Nick's father and anybody else she had killed in time. I realize that I could go back in time to save them but I decided to myself there, in that dungy, dirty, and disgusting cell, that I would not commit suicide to go back. Not only did the mere prospect of doing so horrify me, but I realized that if I did that, I would gradually begin to dehumanize myself by not fearing death. I would no longer worry about dying and he repercussions that it brought along with it. It would probably cause me to lose sight of the importance of anything as I wouldn't even value my own life at all. Not to mention, Angel never mentioned that I had infinite lives or anything, so my resets might be running out. So, I decided that I would do my best to save as many people as possible in each life and do my best to stay alive as well, as to preserve my humanity and sanity for as long as possible. I would only make use of this ability if I died and found myself alive again.

After coming to this conclusion, after about an hour of two of thinking I fell asleep. I was awoken by a large furry thing scampering over my leg and nibbling at my hand. I quickly yelled and shook them off, rushing to the corner of my cell where I currently sat, doing my best to keep them away. It must have been a number of hours since I was shocked awake by the bloody vermin and I have no idea how long I was asleep for. I'm guessing this is some kind of pre-investigation tool to shake up people they plan on torturing or interrogating. The lack of a decent light source was beginning to really bother me, as was the hunger I could feel rising in my stomach. Also, the constant noise from the shouting guards above in heavy armor was so irritating I'm thankful I was able to get my little nap in during a quiet time. My thoughts began to wander to how Nick and his supposed sister were doing. However, I didn't get very long on that train of thought before the door at the end of the room burst open suddenly.

I was temporarily blinded by the bright light that came though the doorway and as I bent over covering my eyes I could also hear the rats scattering into whatever holes they used to hide in. I could hear a number of heavy boots approaching my cell and the door was unlocked and opened with a heavy screech of metal. I could barely open my eyes but I managed to see the outline of a few guards before I was grabbed either side and hoisted up into the air. These men were really strong and I didn't even bother struggling. I was carried out of the basement and into the main room of the guardhouse, where I was yet again blinded by a bright midday sun shining through the windows. I was carried off into some other room and sat down forcefully in a chair, where my hands a and feet were chained to said chair before I could say anything. The men swiftly left the room without a word and I was soon left in silence, my eyes still clamped shut as it hurt to open them for even a second. Gradually, my eyes got used to the surrounding light and I took a moment to observe the room I was in.

It was a small but quaint room with white painted walls and a large open window facing the open blue sky stretching away from the city. The view was honestly incredible, and I realized that this building must be pretty high up on the city. The room was bare except for a single table and two chairs on either side. I sat in one of the chairs and the other, although pulled out, was vacant. I looked down at the chains holding my hands and feet to my chair only to see that the reason that I couldn't move my hands and feet, wasn't that the chains links were short (Although they were). No, it was the sheer weight of the large amount of metal put into these chains that made me unable to move them even a little bit. I had to wonder what kind of monsters these were expected to hold down. I sat there, thinking about that and what was going to happen to me a for a long while before I finally decided to take action.

" **Hey!** Is anybody there?!"

I'm not sure whether my shout got through the thick walls of this place, but I sure hope it did. I waited for a while longer before shouting again,

"HELLLOOOO!"

I put all of my breath into that one and took a few moments to catch my breath afterwards. I don't see how they wouldn't have been able to hear that, so when still no one came to investigate the yelling, I concluded that they were actually ignoring me and I realized that I was probably going to be in here for a long time. However, I was soon proven wrong, when a young knight burst into the room. She was a young woman that seemed to be around my age with long dirty blond hair tied into a long ponytail with an intricate hairpiece in the shape of a pair of swords holding it together. She had a large number of papers in the crook of her arm and her hands were holding a number of small items. She was panting heavily and stood in the doorway for a few moments catching her breath before moving over to sit in the seat opposite to me. I must have had quite the surprised look on my face because when she looked at me she scowled a little and blushed before retuning her focus to the papers that she had now laid in front of her, seemingly doing her best to ignore me. I grinned awkwardly as I could already guess how this was gonna work out. The young knight seemed to make up her mind about something, as she nodded to herself and returned her gaze to me, now looking much more serious and professional.

"State your name for the sake of the court."

She voiced this order with a clear-cut and serious tone. However, having already been a through a much more emotional interrogation few lives back, I made sure to not give into her demanding voice.

"Now hold on a minute! What am I being charged with? And what court?"

I quickly attempted to get a few clear questions in before she could respond. However, judging by her shocked expression, I didn't need to be so hostile.

"What are you talking about?"

She had an incredulous look on her face and she seemed honestly confused at my questions. I quickly re-evaluated the situation and decided to take a different approach.

"Isn't this an interrogation? I'm under suspicion of murder or something, right?"

After I mentioned murder, her head perked up as if she had just remembered something and she shuffled through her papers before settling on few of them. She quickly scanned over them and chuckled softly to herself before saying:

"Oh… This is what you're worried about. I hate to break it to you, but you were never actually under suspicion. Sir Astraea was chasing that girl down specifically. You just got caught in the situation and he decided to have you detained due to suspicious behavior. Also, before you ask, Mister Nick and his younger sister Eva are alright both physically and mentally and have already returned to their home. Though they are still in mourning.

Though these words seemed honest and truly sympathetic along with the solemn and pitying look she gave me, I could tell that these were practiced and rehearsed lines. It's not that I think she doesn't care about the fact that someone died. It just seems like she has gone through this talk a number of times, to the point where she has stopped getting especially emotionally attached to it. And while this made complete since to me, for some reason it still bothered me a good deal. However, I pushed past this off-hand reaction and focused on being happy that Nick and his sister were okay. I let a small sigh of relief escape my mouth, and the girl quickly took that opportunity to jam a small object into my mouth. She did it so fast that I couldn't even react and I could only cough as I began choking on whatever it was. It felt cold and hard like a rock and eventually I was able to swallow it. I coughed and sputtered for a few seconds before turning towards her and shouting:

"What the hell was that?! What did you just make me eat?! Augh! It tasted horrible… what the hell?!"

She just sat there laughing to herself as she looked at my angry expression. She honestly looked like she was enjoying this! I nearly choked on that thing… augh… that really did taste horrible. It tasted like it was iron covered in pickle juice. Like there were two bad flavors that just refused to mix but were forced together anyway. I did my best to stare daggers at her but with my eyes watering and my tongue out, she just laughed all the more. It took her almost a minute to stop laughing and when she finally did, she still had that stupid grin on her face.

"I'm sorry, pal. I just love doing that to people."

"I can tell… so?"

She looked at me in slight confusion.

"What?"

Did this girl seriously not know what I was talking about.

"What the hell did you just shove down my throat?!"

Her face lit up and I swear if this were a cartoon, a light bulb would have lit up over her head. She leaned forward and pointed towards my heart.

"That, my innocent inmate, was a kind of magic stone that lets us track a person for a number of days depending on the size. It also lets us do a check-up on the status of your gate without troubling a skilled mage."

Usually my first reaction would have been " _Wait… track me? What the hell!"_ but something she said at the end piqued my curiosity.

"What's a gate?"

…

…

…

"Oi… say something."

"Oh. You weren't joking"

She looked at me like I had just asked why the sky was blue. Her eyebrows shot up so high onto her forehead that I was worried that they would never come back down. Her mouth was agape and after that last statement she seemed to be at a complete loss for words. Eventually, she seemed to come to a conclusion and began to explain.

"The gate is… oh how should I explain this… It's like a person's throat, if magic was a song.

I wasn't quite getting the metaphor so I motioned for her to go on with my hand.

"So, it's how a person releases their magic. Everyone has magic inside them and most people are able to use magic, but one's ability to use one's gate heavily affects the quality and quantity of magic one can use. Oh! Think of it like a muscle!

Okay… so that last analogy made a little sense and that would explain why the stone could check up on my gate, probably because they thought I hurt it or something using whatever the heck that glowing shield thingy was but that doesn't answer the question of:

"Why do you guys need to track me? Wasn't I found innocent?"

"Of course, you were. But, seeing as we know next to nothing on the case, we are keeping a close eye on all of our witnesses for the time being. However, we are not comfortable invading your privacy so we use these for long range surveillance of your physical and magical condition. Keep in mind though, it can't pick up everything, so we're not gonna tell you if you're sick or something."

Oh, yeah sure… because that's totally not invading my privacy. Seriously, did this girl think I was an idiot? Actually wait, of course she does! She probably thinks I'm some foreigner and can't comprehend what's happening. The fact that I didn't know something that is apparently very common knowledge helped. Darn it, me. You really need to find a bloody library somewhere…

Oh. Forgot about that.

Scratch that. Find a gullible schoolteacher or something, convince them you're a foreigner, and have them teach you. But first, I need to get my money back.

"Um, listen, if you don't need anything else then can I be on my way?"

"No."

 _"_ _Oh, thank God, finally out of here…"_

"What?"

"No."

"Why?!"

"Because your interview isn't done. A higher ranked knight will be here shortly to continue the process. If you simply cooperate, it will be painless and quick."

Crap! I thought I'd be out of this, but if a person comes in here and actually examines me, are they gonna find that 'soul stone' thing? And why isn't Angel helping? He interfered a few times in the past so, why not now?!

My internal panic was paused for a moment when someone knocked on the door lightly. The young knight, stood up, straightened her hair and clothing, and put on a confident smile as she walked to the door. "Someone's hoping to make a good impression." I thought, however that thought died in the back of my mind as a certain knight entered the room swiftly when she opened the door. If my hands hadn't been tied down, I'm confident I would have pulled my hands towards my neck. I could see him give me a suspicious look, as I looked at him in fear. Of all the people, it had to be Julius.

"Will you be needing any assistance Sir Euclice? If so, then I can-"

"No need, Selene. I simply want you to keep an eye on Madam Hoshin, so as to stop her from getting into any trouble."

Anastasia! She was here! My desire to get out of this as fast as possible doubled but was still vastly overshadowed by the massive sense of dread and fear that was washing over me as I remembered my less than pleasant death at the end of Julius' sword a few lives back. As he walked over to seat himself in the chair that Selene had earlier, I did my best to calm down and focus on getting on getting out and to not let Angel or any of his… boons inside of me be discovered.

"Excuse me, Mr.… O'Donoovain?"

"O'Donovan"

"Ah, thank you. Now then, I am to do a full physical and magical examination of you, along with activating the magic stone inside of you so as to allow it to perform its purpose. Any complaints or questions?"

"…not really."

"Good. Then please strip down to your underwear."

" _Huh"_

The following hour (Yes, Hour) was possibly the single most embarrassing time of my life. I was forced to wear an old-style loincloth, as Julius stared at me incredibly closely, occasionally using what I can only assume are medical tools on different parts of my body. He had me drink a number of different fluids to "help activate the stone the stone" and then proceeded to give me what felt like a stomach massage while I was standing to finally activate it. Then he left me alone for another half-hour to wait until I could relieve myself, so he could make sure traces of an apparent excess material that came off the stone upon activation, was indeed travelling through my bowels. Overall, it sucked and I felt like dying of embarrassment.

"Congratulations. You are in fine, no exceptional physical health, other than a good deal of stress, and your gate, while unused until recently, seems to be healthy and strong. I'm honestly surprised to find a foreigner in such good health."

Julius said this as he looked at me from across the table after he had done testing my urine, and allowed me to change. I was staring at my feet in shame and simply responded with a small shrug and grunt. I heard him give out a small chuckle before continuing.

"Well, that leads to your last part in this investigation. I thank you for your cooperation thus far, now please describe in as much detail as possible, the events that transpired."

Crap. I did my best to keep my head down, acting as if I still felt embarrassed, hoping to hide my panic. This was it. If I screwed this up, then it was game over. I had to be completely honest because, without a doubt, they would double check with their stories and the accounts Nick and Eva gave. So, in the end, it was quite simple. I told the truth about everything I could that took place over my two lives in that room that Nick and Eva would remember. I made sure to leave out any description at all of the shield, and simply stated that I didn't see what protected me, in case that would help me get him off my case about the magic thing. After I was done, he looked over a number of documents that were still on the table, before nodding to himself standing up and leaving. It was a number of minutes before he came back with my bag of coins.

"We apologize for any inconvenience that our investigation caused, and we assure you that all of your contributions will be used to catch the culprit as soon as possible."

"uh… right."

I breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing him say that. It meant that they knew that the girl wasn't the real culprit and was simply being mind-controlled or something. It also meant that, as far as I could tell, they were not worried about the magical shield that had appeared, whether they knew about it from Nick's recount of the events or not. I accepted the bag of coins and followed Julius to the main entry hall of the building.

I hadn't seen it earlier, but it was actually quite impressive. It was made up of a large center room with a large staircase leading up to the second floor and a smaller set of stairs leading downwards. There were a number of desks and counters up against the far wall where people sat waiting for an incident to occur or for a person to come in to ask something. I could see a number of people talking to one lady at a counter, and it seemed as though they were arguing about some money that one owed the other. Other than that, the room was pretty bare except for some side-rooms near the counters, and a number of tables and chairs that took up some space near the main door. I only noticed these things for about a second before my eyes became focused on possibly the most beautiful and precious scene that I had ever seen.

Anastasia sat at one of the nicer tables in a cushioned chair, and was calmly reading a book with a happy expression on her face as she scanned through the pages. She was dressed in a similar white dress to the one I saw her in when I first met her. Her hair was in her usual style and the same purse was sitting next to her in the chair. However, it was the small fuzzy puffballs that were around her which really got me. Mimi was lying on Anastasia's lap, still wrapped in her white cloak, sound asleep, while the other 2 were playing cards at the other end of the table, laughing happily. Seeing their faces brought back memories of that time in my room in the Iron Fang base.

 ** _"_** ** _And that compliancy is worth the lives of Mimi and the others?!"_**

"I…I saved them. I d-did it…"

I barely managed to utter those words as the tears began to stream down my face. An incredible amount of relief flooded into my body. All of the fear, the anxiety, and the pain hadn't led to nothing. I had saved people. I saved them. I was able to help them. A sense of pride and courage filled my heart, but it was soon followed by a sharp pain of regret as the face of Nick's father flashed through my mind. A sickening reminder of my own inability and weakness. However, I quickly realized that this feeling of both happiness and regret was what I should strive for. I should always do my best and be happy when I succeed in saving people or helping them, but I should never stop feeling regret if I fail. I wiped my tears away, smiling at my own wisdom, letting a small smile form as I watched Julius walk towards Anastasia.

"Congratulations, Conor."

I turned around to see the familiar form of Corona floating a few feet away from me still dressed in the plain white robe. He was looking at me with both pride and pity, a small smile creeping at his lips. I couldn't help but chuckle as he probably realized exactly what ran through my head. I quickly looked over to see that, for the rest of the world, time was frozen.

"Thanks, Angel… but it's not even close to over, is it?"

His expression stayed the same but I could see a little bit of the light in his eyes die out.

"No. We're only just starting. What you just helped deal with was simply a pawn of another champion. And a weak one at that. We are not even close to done. Remember Conor, you have to get stronger, learn about the world, and beat all off the other champions to the throne, so we can take it from the Dragon."

"About that Angel…"

"What is it?"

"How am I gonna meet one of those candidates for the throne?"

"What?"

I was a little shocked by the exasperation in his voice, but I guess he expects me to figure these things out on my own. Still though, He could at least help out a little.

"You know, you mentioned candidates for the throne. How am I gonna find one?"

"You seriously don't know/"

"What? Don't know what?"

Angel let out quite the large sigh before beginning to float over to where Julius and the others were, mumbling about something as he went. He stopped right at the edge of the table and turned towards me, a very disappointed look on his face. He then sighed again and pointed his thumb sideways at Anastasia. Why would he…

"Wait! Are you serious?!"

"How could you not know! Her picture is posted all over the place, along with the others."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah."

I am such an idiot. I have literally been infatuated with this woman for nearly my entire time in this world and I never noticed a poster with her face on it! How stupid could I be!? I began to bang my head on the nearby wall in embarrassment as Angel begins to laugh at my incompetence.

"You seriously never knew!?"

"I wasn't paying attention!"

We stayed like that for a few minutes, him teasing me and me just dying of embarrassment, but eventually he stops laughing and goes quiet for a short time before speaking again, this time much more serious.

"Listen Conor, I'm glad you've found her this early and that you like her so much, but you can't forget your job and your responsibilities. The mission comes before romance, got it!?

"Yeah."

I responded calmly and quickly but right after I answered a small and sly smile appeared on his face.

"That being said… I have some good news. 2 pieces of good news actually. I was going to wait until later to bring this up but I feel the need to tell you. That power you have, the glowing shield one, is not a one-off thing. You have the unique ability to form weapons and armor out of holy magic and use them in combat. If perfected, you could have entire armies at your disposal!"

"Wow! That's incredible! What's the second thing?!"

"Well it's a little more complicated but I think you'll like it."

Angel's smirk turns into a full-on grin as he raises his hand and snaps his fingers, bright light shooting out of them when he does so. I am temporarily blinded and it takes a minute or so for me to be able to see again. And when I look around I notice something very different. Everyone is still frozen in place at the table, stuck in the middle one some motion or another. Well, everyone except for one… And dang was her surprised face cute.


	7. A Heart's Goal is Spoken

I swear we spent a full minute staring at each other, not a sound escaping either of our lips, nor a single one of us moving an inch. We were both shocked speechless and I can only imagine how much panic she must be in. I was shocked because Anastasia Hoshin, a young woman who I am currently in love with, had just entered the little pocket dimensions that I thought was reserved for just me and Angel. She, on the other hand, had just opened her eyes to see a young man staring at her with tears in his eyes, and also having all of her friends around her be frozen. Needless to say, we were both a little out of it for a while there. That little while was interrupted by a certain Angel clapping his hands.

"Welcome Miss Hoshin, to my humble abode. I do apologize for any confusion as to your situation, but I promise I will explain as soon as possible."

As Anastasia looked at him in confusion, I noticed something. That incredible confidence of hers had only wavered for that first minute in here. After Angel clapped and spoke, she seemed to regain a bit of her composure and she swept her eyes over the area as if she was assessing it for flaws. I realized that she probably believed this to be some sort of illusion.

"I do promise you that this is indeed a fully closed off dimension. Only other Great Spirits such as myself could enter, and even then, only if I allow it."

Apparently, my guess had been right on target, as the moment he said that, she stopped looking and returned her gaze to Angel. I realized that I had been quiet for quite a while and quickly gathered my courage to say something.

"I- "

"I would appreciate it if you would remain quiet for the time being, Conor. I know you mean well, but your interference would only make this harder."

…And there went that courage, as my attempted outburst brought Anastasia's suspecting glare onto me. I suddenly became very self-conscience of the tears that were still on my face and quickly attempted to wipe them off. However, it was too little too late, as she had already seen them and seemed to give out a disappointed sigh. I could only imagine what kind of derogatory thoughts were being pointed my way inside that pretty head of hers. She probably expected me to be as composed as Angel, but instead found me crying. Gosh, I am so lame. I could see Angel give me a sympathetic look before continuing.

"Anyway, my failure of a subordinate aside, - "

Now hold on a minute! Weren't you the one who just congratulated me? What kind of betrayal is this! I would have voiced these feelings, but I decided to trust that he was only joking. Not to mention he still scared me a little after the "gasping for air" thing

"- I have brought you here for a very specific reason. To be blunt, I require your assistance, very similarly to how I require that young man's. Do you have any guess as to what that assistance is?

I was pretty surprised by how he said that, His face was that of a stoic businessman, and a small smile never left his face. It was quite impressive but when I looked over to see how Anastasia was taking this in, I was, quite honestly, terrified. The look she had on her face, a calm, confident, and content face, the same one that was on her face when I first met her, now seemed to shine with an even greater resolve then before. Even Angel seemed to be shocked by her composure as that smile that had graced his features faltered when he noticed her expression. It may have only been for a moment, but she had just made a Great Spirit, essentially a minor deity in this world, nervous. I was both terrified and slightly turned on by that. However, before I could give greater thought to what kind of weird thing it was to get turned on by that, she responded.

"I have a few ideas, but let me first confirm something. This has to do with the election, doesn't it?"

"Wow, I'm surprised you guessed it that fast."

"Well, why else would you bring me here? I don't have too many people willing to go up against me when to comes to business."

"You have a point there. Maybe it was a little obvious. Anyway, whether something was obvious or not doesn't matter right now. What matters, Miss Hoshin- "

"Madam."

"Excuse me?"

" _Madam_ Hoshin, to you _"_

I could hardly believe my ears. This woman was arguing with a Great Spirit over how she wanted to be addressed. If I wasn't too busy being incredibly shocked, I probably would have been severely worried for her safety as the irritation that became obvious on Angel's face screamed that he wanted to kill her right this second. I could only watch as this argument continued.

"… Fine then. _Madam_ Hoshin, I would appreciate it if you would accept a deal of sorts."

"A deal?"

"Yes. You see, I am not going to go into the details with you, you can ask Conor if you'd like, but I need to form a contract with one of the candidates for the throne so as too dethrone the Dragon from his position as patron of Lugunica for various reasons."

At this, Anastasia dropped the small smile, but still kept her face calm and emotionless. She seemed to be irked by something that Angel had said and she brought her hand to her chin in thought. I was a bit surprised by Angel's not trusting her but, knowing Angel, he was just being petty about her bothering him about calling her Madam. Anastasia seemed to come to a conclusion and spoke rather forcefully in response.

"And I suppose you expect me to simply up and agree to this. I am not an idiot, sir. The Dragon is the patron of this land for a reason. Dragging him out of his throne, would only cause conflict that would tear this country apart, not to mention let the witch-cult roam free. And I want this country, so I'm not going to let some usurper ruin it."

We were both a little surprised by her venomous tone and harsh phrasing. I shared a look with Angel, doing my best to say "Just tell her!", without actually saying it. Angel seemed to get the message and sighed before responding.

"Would you be willing to hear my offer if I could explain why the dragon needs to be taken off of the throne?"

It was a few moments before she gave a small but decisive nod, albeit with a very suspicious look in her eyes as she did so.

Angel proceeded to sit down on one of the tables and explain the whole situation to Anastasia. He started off with explaining the competition for the throne and how he was tricked by the dragon, causing him to go into hiding. He then explained how the dragon had been performing well, but was being corrupted over time, and waiting any longer without changing the patron, would be very dangerous. He then explained how many other Great Spirits were also hoping to take the position for themselves and that she would most likely run into others with similar offers. He then glanced over at me with a slightly embarrassed look, before explaining that, although he can't prove that he was the best candidate for the position, he promises that he truly wants to care for the country and its people. He finished by bowing deeply in front of her in an effort to show his sincerity.

I looked at Anastasia, who had remained relatively calm the entire time, barely even seeming surprised at the story of the ancient competition, as she stared down at the small figure bowing before her. She seemed to be deep in thought and even sat down after a short while. Angel stood up and backed away towards me, as we let her think it over. We waited for several minutes before she stood up and faced us. She seemed to have lost a little of her composure from the sheer scale of what was being considered, but remained as confident as ever. She had her hands clasped in front of her, softly gripping her white dress, and I suddenly felt a little sad for her. She was being forced to go through exactly what I had to in the past, minus the death, but with a lot more responsibility. I listened eagerly as she spoke.

"I have not decided whether or not I am going to agree to your contract, however, I would like to…get a few guarantees from you."

"What kind of guarantees?"

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"Firstly, I would like the ability to drop out of this agreement at any time and under no circumstances can you force new conditions on me, without my agreement. Understood?"

"Simple enough. Anything else?"

"Secondly, I demand your full investment into my election. I don't want a single back-up plan or replacement to be prepared. You can, of course, make different plans for different developments with my campaign for the throne, but they will all be for _my_ succession to the throne. Understood?"

"Understood. I assume there is one other thing."

She took a moment to answer, seemingly panicking for a moment before regaining her composure and continuing.

"C-correct. Finally, I want a sign that I can trust you. I can't walk into this deal blindly trusting in your word, no matter how honest it might seem."

Angel smiled at this last request and I quickly understood why she had hesitated to make this request. All throughout this conversation, Angel and Anastasia have been at each other's heels trying to gain the dominance over the conversation. While Angel was restricted by the fact that he was requesting something of her, and was therefore slightly indebting himself to her from the start, Anastasia was in completely new territory for her, and no matter how composed one might be, being caught completely unaware in a very serious situation would cause anyone to falter. And that last request was basically Anastasia admitting that she was at a disadvantage and wanted to be sure that Nick wouldn't take advantage of that. I laughed a little as I remember myself having similar thoughts when I was coming to an agreement with Angel. However, that happiness soon turned to panic as I remembered how Angel had given me that assurance.

"Angel, you're not going to give her a soul stone, are you?!"

The last thing I wanted was for her to feel even an ounce of the pain I felt when I received the soul stone. I shuddered even remembering it. I had died a number of times but I'm not sure I would ever come close to that kind of physical agony ever again. Angel turned towards me, seemingly amused by my question, but my panicked expression must have helped him realize what I was getting at and he immediately put on a more serious expression before assuring me:

"No, of course I won't. Not to mention, I can't exactly give those away willy nilly."

I leaned over and breathed a sigh of relief at that. I nearly had a heart attack there. I'm not sure what I would have done if he had tried to force one of those on her. I certainly would tell him to stop and attempt to protect her, but it'd probably be really easy for him to restrain me. And although, I could threaten to harm his soul stone inside of me, if I did that than my mission would be done as I would lose my Holy Armament power if the souls stone was destroyed. And if I lost my power than all of the innocent people that are still in the midst of a deadly tournament between Great Spirits would be in great danger. And as I agreed to earlier, "The mission comes before romance" so I couldn't in good conscience put Anastasia's safety above that of possibly thousands of people. Certainly, not if her life wasn't in danger. Thankfully though, it looks like I won't need to worry about that.

When I looked up, for a split-second I saw Anastasia looking at me with a look of curiosity, but when our eyes met, she scowled slightly and immediately looked away, never letting her composed expression leave her face. I'm not gonna lie, but that immediate breaking of eye contact stung a little, and I could see Angel off to the side snickering. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Angel. Your champion is having his heart torn apart here and you're just laughing. A+ partner material right there. After his little giggle-fest, Angel cleared his throat before speaking to Anastasia.

"Well, _Madam_ Hoshin, I cannot offer you a soul stone or anything like that, however, I can give you control over something that can directly affect me, and is completely free from any control of mine. -"

Huh, I wonder what that is.

"It is completely self-conscience with an alright intelligence and I cannot force it to do anything."

Wait…

"I have also gifted it with some quite impressive abilities and functions, meaning it could be quite useful in combat and other more… complicated situations"

Angel you little…

"And it's already nigh completely loyal to you, I doubt I could convince it to lay a single finger on you"

No, you couldn't Angel, and also, I am not something to be-

"That being said. You wouldn't have complete control over it either. After all I, can't just have you up and leave and take my one champion with you."

 **"** **Angel, I am not an it!"**

I grabbed both of their attentions with that outburst and especially Anastasia seemed to be utterly shocked. I scared even myself with the volume of my outburst but if I didn't do something I was going to explode from embarrassment and nervousness. Was Angel seriously considering using me as a bartering chip to get her on our side? I mean I get that the goal was to get both me and Anastasia to the throne, but having me a tool was a little degrading. I was at least hoping to be seen as her knight or something…

After getting over his initial surprise, Angel began to laugh, and when I say laugh I mean **_laugh_**. The little guy was floating around in the air clutching his stomach as he giggled and chuckled is little heart out. Meanwhile, Anastasia and I were left looking at him awkwardly, not a word passing between us. Eventually, Angel calmed down and floated back over to us to continue speaking.

"Sorry about that Conor. I couldn't help myself. Your reactions are the best. Ah… but in all seriousness, I am offering partial control over you to her."

"Why?"

"Simple, I can't hand her another soul stone and I know that you most certainly don't want me to. So, the only way to fill her request is to give her control over someone that already has one. Namely, you. And why are you complaining, this is a chance for you to get clo- "

"Hey! Don't mention that!"

"Ha-ha-ha, man, this is so much fun! So, Madam Hoshin, what do you say? Mind taking in this stray of mine?"

While I may have been insulted by the plethora of insults that my patron was sending my way, the importance of the choice that she was about to make, silenced any complaints I had. I couldn't help but look at her. If she refused this deal than my chances of ever getting to be with her in _any_ sense of the word would fly out the window. However, if she agreed, I'd finally have someone I could rely on, someone who could actually understand, at least a little bit, what I was going through. Not to mention, I'd get to be around her constantly. Needless to say, I wanted her to say yes. I could see that she was actually giving it a great deal of thought. It made me happy that she was actually considering it. But then the fact that she was probably just considering the advantages towards her election brought down my mood in a second. All the while, Angel was simply looking at her with an indifferent look on his face.

"Can I ask a question?"

I was a little surprised that she had another question, and Angel seemed to be similarly confused, but gave her a small nod anyway.

"When you said that you needed my assistance, you mentioned that it was similar to the assistance you needed from the young man. What is the assistance you need from him?"

Odd question to be asking now. Shouldn't she be more worried about her own well-being. I was quite surprised yet again. I had thought I had understood the kind of person she was but it turns out I was wrong. Angel took a second to respond and when he did, he did carefully.

"I need Conor to act as my champion. Think of this contest as a two-pronged battle. One side is the candidates, the women that the next queen will be chosen from. Our ultimate goal is to get one of them allied with us and get them to the throne. However, we require a force and power that can protect that candidate from the threat of other Great Spirits, those would be our champions."

I was a little honored by how he said that. I suppose through all of the crap he's been giving me recently, I forgot how much he actually treasured my assistance. He was still annoying as heck sometimes, but he was a good guy who I was trusting my life to. And besides, the only way for me to see Anastasia is to be in this world so… I don't have much of a choice.

"So essentially, you're asking me to ally myself to you, work with your champion, do my best to win the election, and if I do win, you want me to make a contract with you for being patron of the country and not the Dragon, correct? And in return you'll do your best to help me win, protect me, and support me and rule fairly as patron if we win?"

"That about sums it up, yeah."

After hearing Angel's confirmation, a small smile appeared on her face and she seemed to regain all of the composure and confidence she had lost over the course of this ordeal and then some. I could see the wheels turning in her head, imagining the different scenarios, advantages, and disadvantages to agreeing to this. I'm not sure I have ever seen someone so deep and so invested in thought. However, as she continued to think, she grew more and more excited and I could actually see her shaking a little as that smile spread across her face. And, holy cow, was that smile beautiful. It seemed to embody all of her hopes and ambitions and I swear it gave off its own light as I stared at her, completely transfixed by her beauty. I was only snapped out of this trance by her clearing her throat. It appears that she has come to a decision. I could hardly stop my heart from beating out of my chest as she opened her mouth to answer. Even Angel looked a little anxious over what her answer was going to be."

"I agree to your terms, Angel. I will gladly align myself to you and make use of all that you have to offer to make myself queen, and the I promise to replace the Dragon with you and work with you in leading this country.

 _YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHH_! I could hardly stop myself from cheering on the outside as I heard her answer. I most certainly couldn't stop myself from breaking out into a gigantic grin and breathing a huge sigh of relief. She agreed! That means I'll get to work with her. That means I'll actually have someone that I can confide in, someone with whom I can trust, and someone with whom I could actually talk to about that things that have been driving me insane the last few weeks. Relieved, wasn't quite enough to describe how happy I was. It felt like I was the Titan, Atlas, and my weight of the earth had just been transformed into a beautiful, adorable, and fluffy Christmas present. I could see that Angel was quite visibly relieved as well, as they were tears welling up inside of his eyes. Anastasia seemed a little weirded out by our behavior, but said nothing. Thankfully Angel managed to keep his cool and not burst out into sobs. He eventually calmed down enough to float over towards Anastasia, where he shook her hand. He then whispered a few things to her, making sure that I couldn't hear before floating away, out of sight. That left both me and Anastasia alone in complete and utter awkwardness.

"So, Angel told me your name is Conor. It's a strange name, but not too bad."

She still had her stoic business face on, but I could hear just a little trepidation voice. I did my best not to let my brain to jump to any conclusions, but the many romance/adventure novels I had read put a lot of scenarios into my head. Many of them leading to quite the… "intimate" scene. I couldn't help but blush slightly before answering, doing my best to keep those thoughts out of my head.

"Thanks. And I guess your name is Anastasia Hoshin, right?"

"Correct. I am quite fond of it."

"That's good. It would kind of suck to have a name, you didn't like using, huh?"

"I suppose…"

"Yeah…"

I am pretty darn sure that every one of my ancestors were currently holding their heads in their hands at my behavior. Here I was given a perfect situation to introduce myself to the girl of my dreams and give a good start to our, currently business-like, relationship, but at least it would be a start. But noooooo, I just had to be an utter idiot and talk about our bloody names. I mean seriously! How much of a failure could I be?! I have died how many times and I can't even talk to a girl. We stood there awkwardly for quite a while, both of us unsure of what to say. Anastasia looked calm and collected but even she kept quiet, apparently at a loss for how to start the conversation. Thankfully, a little Angel decided to intervene.

 _"_ _Are you seriously this cowardly Conor?"_

My head perked up at his voice, but judging by how Anastasia was still looking around awkwardly, he was talking into my head again. I didn't like where this was going but seeing as it might take my mind off of my current ineptitude with talking to romantic interests, I listened intently.

 _"_ _Never mind. Don't answer that. Listen, I know I poke fun at you and all that, but I need you to be serious about the current situation for a minute. We just got the other required piece for moving forward our plans, and you can bet on our opponents realizing it. You have to keep her safe. No matter what. I don't care if that drive comes from love, a sense of duty, or a desire to fulfill the mission. I don't care! But you have to keep her safe. I hate to break it to you, but we can win this game without you. But we need her. So, please stop being a failure of a healthy young man, and have a serious conversation with her. You know, the one about the fate of the country level issue. Just get to it!_

 _Oh and by the way, I'm only going to let you guys out once you at least introduce yourselves and decide on how things are going to start on your end of the battle."_

I could feel his voice die out and I felt a sense of mental relief as whatever force he was using to project his thoughts into my head, disappeared. I couldn't help but softly laugh at myself. Here I was getting all nervous when I had already died how many times trying to save hundreds of lives. There was a lot much more at stake here than my self-esteem and mental stability. So, with my thoughts on the grave mission ahead of us and all thoughts of romance out my head, I turned towards her, looking her straight in the eye and held out my hand.

"I apologize for my nervousness, Anastasia Hoshin. I was a little clueless about how to address the issue but we need to talk before we can leave so we might as well get it over with."

She seemed a little surprised at first and took a moment to look at my hand, as if to make sure it was actually there, before reaching out and shaking my hand, a small smile on her face as she returned my gaze.

"I agree. And I also apologize for my lack of initiative. It's quite obvious that I have the most experience with these kind of conversations, so I should have been the one to address the issue.

We both shared a little laugh as we realized the irony of the situation but we quickly calmed down and continued talking

"So, I realize that this might sound really crazy b- "

"Conor, I was just told by a Great Spirit that the patron Spirit of our country needs to be overthrown and I just agreed to help him. I doubt it's going to sound very crazy."  
"Well, you say that but… I may be not being able to actually die…"

The look she gave me was absolute adorable as it seemed to be a combination of surprise, curiosity, and doubt. I nearly lost the concentration I had had up till then, but I managed to stay focused and continue.

"I promise I'm not joking! You see, when I die, or at least when I'm supposed to die, I go back in time to some point, I'm not really sure what decides it, and I start over from there, keeping the memories from my last life, but no one else knowing about it as they are up to date in their timeline… Oh I know. You know Charles, a man who owes-err- I mean owed, you a lot of money. You visited him a few days ago, and paid him a visit. Also, your base in the Capital has an incredibly large training area, guarded by a few absolutely _Gigantic_ guards.

That seemed to grabbed her attention. Honestly, I felt a little bad as that seemed to scare her a little and I had to quickly assure her that I was most certainly not an assassin after her life. She made me provide a few more examples but pretty soon I had gotten her to believe me. And then came the bigger issue We had reached a peaceful lull in the conversation, and she seemed to be a little more comfortable around me. I regretted breaking up this pleasant peacefulness but I had to confront this issue.

"Listen Madam Hoshin, I realize that you have probably dealt with quite a few dangerous individuals and groups, but… the stuff we're gonna deal with now… It's gonna blow all that out of the water."

"…I know..."

I looked over to see how she was dealing with that, and her expression killed me a little on the inside. A moment ago, she had had her classic confident and comfortable expression on, but now… she looked scared. It was almost just like that time in the Iron Fang's base, after Mimi and the others died. That anger from seeing her plagued by negative emotions arose in my chest again, stronger than ever. But this time, I was in a position to do something about it. We were sitting at one of the tables, across from each other, but I quickly got up and rushed over to where she was sitting. I kneeled down and grabbed her hands, looking her straight in the eyes. I realized what I was doing was rash, emotion-driven- and honestly, pretty stupid, but I couldn't just sit by anymore. I refuse to just watch as people I care for get hurt. So, I did my best to put all of the emotion and sincerity I had in my body into what I was saying.

"Madam Hoshin, I promise I will do everything in my power to protect you. You might not understand why or how, and I don't expect you to, but I need you to know that you are possibly the most important thing in my life right now. I understand that I probably sound really creepy and weird but you are everything to me Anastasia. So, I promise to do all I can to keep you safe. No matter how much pain I have to go through, no matter how long it takes, ad no matter how many times I have to die, I **_will_** protect you!"

By the time, I finished speaking, there were tears streaming down my face. I had laid out everything; the feelings that had kept me going my entire time, and I had just spilled them all out to her. My heart was beating a faster than a hummingbird's as I looked to her for a response. She had looked surprised from the second I grabbed her hands and as I finished speaking she turned away from me, blocking me from seeing her expression. It seemed like hours of complete and deafening silence as I waited. But eventually she turned back towards me, and I didn't think it was possible, but I fell even more in love in that moment.

She was looking at me with a small smile on her face and a few lone tears of joy streaming down her face. I'm not sure I had ever seen someone as beautiful as she seemed at that moment, and I doubt anyone would seem even close to how beautiful she was ever again. She was blushing a lot, and sniffled a few times before responding.

"Thank you. Conor. I-I really appreciate it. I wasn't expecting you to be so… reliable, but… I'm very thankful that you care so much. I feel like I can trust you now."

We spent the next few minutes in silence, each of us enjoying this moment to its fullest. However, this, like all other good things in life, must come to an end.

"Alright kiddos, seeing as you came to an agreement on how you're gonna act from now on a seemed to have gotten to trust one another, I'll be returning you to reality momentarily. Madam Hoshin, I'd suggest you clean up. You look a little emotional.

We were knocked out of this beautiful stupor by Angel's voice resounding through the room and we both quickly stood up, wiping our faces and smoothing out our clothes. Anastasia especially, worked extra hard to clean up her face, which made sense. She was gonna return in the center of a group of people, while I was already crying when I got pulled in here. I certainly was not happy that we had to leave, but we had a mission to begin and we needed to start as soon as possible. We both looked up as we saw a number of cracks begin to appear on the walls of the room, signaling the end of our time in the dimension. Both me and Anastasia shared a sad look as we both realized that we would have to keep this a secret and might not be able to talk openly for a good while. When I was about to turn away, Anastasia seemed to realize something and quickly ran over to me, pulling on my sleeve. I leaned down to listen better and was a little surprised by what she said.

"Anastasia."

"What?"

"You can call me Anastasia when we're alone.

…Oh …. I didn't have a heart attack. I'm still alive. I could have sworn I just died there. Now then, let me react as I should.

"What?"

"Weren't you listening? I told you, when we're alone, you can call me Anastasia when we're alone. Oh, and Miss Hoshin is fine in public."

I don't think I have ever smiled as widely as I did at that moment. I think I scared Anastasia a little bit with my giddy smile, but I quickly chuckled a little in an attempt to assure her that I wasn't going insane. I responded a little cockily in an attempt to flirt.

"Well, Anastasia, feel free to call me Conor."

"Oh, I know. I already have been. On that note, please don't forget which one of us is in charge."

"Oh…yeah. Sure."

I swear I could hear Angel laughing at my incompetence in the distance as myself and Anastasia disappeared in a flash of light.


	8. The Pair Move Forward

My eyes snapped open as I suddenly felt all of my senses catching up to me after travelling dimensions. I barely had time to tell that I was indeed back where I had been originally standing, in one of the city's barracks, before I quickly felt sick and leaned against the nearby wall to steady myself. I really didn't want initiate my new time in this world with an upheaval of my past meals. It took me a few moments, but I was soon able to straighten up and walk normally, so I quickly looked for my new charge, Anastasia. Thankfully, it didn't take too long to find her. Though I wasn't particularly happy at what brought my attention to her so quickly.

She was currently having a coughing fit, undoubtedly because of the dimensional-travel whiplash, while Julius and the others seemed to be panicking at her sudden change in condition. I was heavily tempted to rush over there, but I held myself back because I know acting familiar with her now would only complicate things for us later on. I walked over to another one of the tables and sat down, making sure to keep watch over her with my peripheral vision. It took her a minute or so and a glass of water to recover, but we all breathed a sigh of relief when the color returned to her face and the insistent coughing stopped. Relieved, I quickly made sure that I still had the bag of money that I was given, and I was happy to find that I still had it.

"Julius, I'm fine. I just caught something in my throat. There's no need to worry… No Hetaro, I am not dying… Hey! Mimi don't hit Hetaro. He was just worried about me."

The sound of her voice brought my attention back to the scene at her table. She really had seemed to have recovered from the coughing fit and was currently scolding the puffballs as they looked up at her, worry evident on their faces. I felt kind of bad for them...

" _Maybe I should go over there an- No! Remember Conor! You can't start your interaction with her. It'll seem to suspicious. Just wait. She'll come up with something."_

And so, I waited. And waited. And waited. I watched as the sun sank low in the horizon and the shifts of the city's guards changed. I waited for Anastasia to do something, for her to cause something that would allow me to join them. But she never did. She just waited there, sitting and passing time with the puffballs as Julius apparently had some other knightly business to take care of here. I started worrying that she might expect me to be the one that started the interaction. She hasn't given me any sort of hint or prompt so was I just supposed to go up and talk to her?! I debated within myself for a few more minutes before abruptly coming to a decision. I was going to go over there and talk with her!

I stood up quickly, pushed in my chair and walked over to her table at a brisk pace. I noticed Mimi and the others taking notice of me and I did my best to keep my facial expressions and mannerisms passive and business-like as I approached her. I cleared my throat behind her to grab her attention and waited until she had turned around to begin speaking. I saw a look of slight annoyance cross her face but I ignored it and started the conversation.

"I am sorry to bother you, but you are Madam Hoshin, right?"

Nailed it! I did my best to seem like a mix between business-like and casual that would allow her to push the conversation anywhere she wanted it. Now then, all that's left to do is to wait and see how she-

 _"_ _It took you long enough, Conor! I was waiting for hours! What the heck were you doing all the way over there!?"_

Her response was so fast and quiet that I could hardly hear it and she quickly pulled my arm and shoved me into the chair next to her, giving me a look that was a rare break from her business face. She was angry, and not in the cute way. She looked about ready to kill me and when that expression suddenly mixed with her usual smiling face, it became even more terrifying. I could feel the blood drain from my face when I began realizing where I had gone wrong. Very Wrong.

 _"_ _Good job, Conor. You are officially the dumbest man alive."_

My own internal dialogue only helped to worsen my perception of the whole situation as I noticed that the little puffballs were also becoming quite angry with me. Which made sense because not only was a suspicious person coming up and speaking to their boss, but she had also just pushed said person into a chair and was whispering angrily at him. Great start Conor, even your own self-conscious is utterly fed up with your screw-ups.

"…Well?"

I was surprised by the sudden change in her voice. I looked up to see that she was looking somewhat dejected and had a forlorn look in her eyes, as if she had gotten her hopes up for nothing. The look of sadness in her eyes, as always, made my mind and body jump into overdrive to remedy whatever was wrong as soon as possible. I started speaking before I could even think about what I was saying.

"It's not that I didn't want to be over here, Anastasia! I was just confused as to how to greet you here. I promise I didn't want to leave you here alone and I most certainly would have rather been sitting here with you, than sitting over at a lone table all by myself."

Somewhere along the lines of my little speech, I had instinctively grabbed one of her hands and held it with both of mine. She looked very shocked by my actions but after a few moments she broke out into a relieved smile and all of the earlier sadness disappeared from her eyes. She started laughing softly and brought her other hand to cover her mouth as she continued laughing. It was the first time I had heard her laugh and it, much like everything else about her, was beautiful. It was just a perfect balance of soft and jovial that hearing it made my heart jump. I was so entranced by her, that I didn't notice the evil grins on the little puffballs faces as they looked behind me.

"Excuse me… what exactly do you think you're doing?"

My blood ran cold upon hearing that cold and calculating voice. I could feel all of the blood drain from my face and my entire body stiffened in fear. The voice knocked Anastasia out of her laughing fit and she quickly cleared her throat before addressing the man behind me.

"Julius, you're back. How did things go."

"All of the matters were attended to and they all were successfully handled. Now back to the important matter at hand, what exactly are you doing to Madam Hoshin, you _scum_."

I know that he probably wouldn't kill me in public like this, but the horrifying memories of Julius cutting my neck open kept popping back into my mind. My hand instinctively went to my throat, letting go off Anastasia's hand in the process. Before I could speak up for myself, Anastasia responded in a slightly annoyed tone.

"This is an old colleague of mine. His name is Conor O'Donovan. We lost contact a few years ago, and we only just met for the first time in those years a few minutes ago, when he noticed me sitting here. It appears he's gotten himself into some trouble and I plan to help him out. As he is a good friend of mine, I expect you to treat him fairly and keep watch over him. Is that understood?"

As Julius responded with a simple "Yes Madam", I was yet again awestruck by how calm Anastasia could be in a situation like this. There was absolutely no hesitation in coming up with that story and judging by his reaction it was pretty believable, or at least somewhat believable. And the puffballs seemed to have accepted it as well. Anastasia, on the other hand, looked back at me with a small smile on her face as if to say "don't worry". I smiled in thanks, but before she could say something I stood up, swallowing my fear, and turned to Julius. I wanted to move past the past, and start fresh in this world. I couldn't just keep fearing Julius forever. He was working with Anastasia, so I had to get along with him.

"I'm really sorry for surprising you. It's just that I haven't seen her for years. Your name's Julius, right? Well, I hope we can get along!"

After speaking I thrust my hand out towards him for a handshake. He looked down at it in surprise for a moment, before smiling slightly and moving to shake my hand. It was good handshake, firm and steady. I felt a kind of understanding pass between us. I felt from the bottom of my heart that he wanted to protect Anastasia as much as I did. We shared a small smile before we both began to laugh, the apparent stress of the situation leaving us both. It took us both a few moments, but eventually we both turned back towards Anastasia and the others, only to see them all looking at us with pleasant expressions on their faces. Anastasia in particular looked pleased at our little greeting. She clapped her hands together, gathering all of our attentions, and spoke loudly.

"Well, now that introductions have been made, why don't we- "

"Wait! Wait! Wait! What about us Madam?!"

Yeah! We wanna be introduced!"

We all looked down in surprise at the puffballs surrounding me and looking up at me in curiosity, all apparent suspicion from earlier out the window. They were still dressed in their white robes and the three of them each had a staff on their backs. Their eyes seemed to shine with curiosity and I could see their ears twitch with excitement as they begged Anastasia to let them introduce themselves. She eventually gave in and the three jumped back into a single row and introduced themselves in turn.

"Hiya! My name is Mimi and I love to fight! I look forward to workin with ya mister!

"*ahem* My name is Hetaro. I work under my sister and am in charge of the organization of our team. I hope we can get along well."

"I'm- "

"And that's everyone important! Now c'mon Hetaro, let's get going!

"O-okay!

I couldn't even utter a response, or find out the name of the third little puffball, as I was pulled by Hetaro to a small courtyard outside of the barracks. I was greeted by the face of a large Earth Dragon with large green scales and massive claws. It was currently pulling a nice looking wooden carriage that was adorned with a number of beautiful designs and engravings. A single flag rose out of the top and I recognized it as the symbol of the Iron Fang, the organization that Anastasia worked with. Anastasia, along with Julius and the other two puffballs, soon followed and I was led to one of the doors in the carriage, which Julius opened, allowing Anastasia to climb inside. I soon followed suit and all I could say was:

"Holy crap!"

The interior of the carriage was absolutely beautiful. The wooden interior was even more beautifully engraved then the outside and the designs seemed to be all under a theme of the ocean, as I saw many individual wave and even whole ships on a single part of the wall. There were large windows that were covered by a thin light-blue curtain, that allowed much of the sun's light inside, while also keeping the glare out and tinging the entire room blue. The room had two rows of padded seats, all covered with a beautiful yellow covering that just looked comfy. Anastasia sat down in the center of the back row, and I quickly sat down near her but not directly next to her. I didn't want to go too fast or make her uncomfortable or anything, but as the others got in, she shifted herself right next to m and gave me a knowing smile. I swear she was going to be the death of me. I spoke up before my imagination went anywhere it shouldn't.

"So, where are we going?"

Anastasia responded quickly, almost as if she had been expecting the question from me…which, knowing her, she probably had.

"We're going to the base of the Iron Fang in the capital. It's my base of operations and where my campaign is planned from. I'm sure you'll love the place. Or at least, I hope you do. It's where you'll be staying for the foreseeable future."

The others heads perked up at this little piece of information, but none of them said anything. I, however, was sobering up as her mention of her campaign reminded me off my responsibility. The nervousness and anxiety from before came flooding back again, I began to panic slightly on the inside, as I thought of all of the training I was going to have to do and how I was going to have to guard a candidate for a throne and-

A small sigh brought me out of my internal panic. I looked over to look at Anastasia, who had turned to look out one of the windows of the street as we moved along. She had a hopeful look on her face and smile graced her lips. As I looked at her, that anxiety seemed to disappear. I was reminded of why exactly I was doing this, and I felt a small smile of my own begin to form on my mouth.

" _I am going to protect you"_

 _/_

 _Sorry for the long wait guys. I have been really busy with life lately and I probably won't get back to the earlier update speed until summer vacation. However, I do plan on pumping out a chapter for one of my current "Blade" projects at least once every two weeks. That aside, I hope you enjoyed and I encourage you to Favorite, Follow, or Review if you liked it or have any complaints. And if you enjoyed, I'd encourage you to go read my other story, "Blade of Resolve". It's only one chapter right now, but I think you'll enjoy it!_


	9. The Journey Begins

The trip to the Iron Fang base was short and rather uneventful as Anastasia and Julius began talking about business prospects, the Iron Fang, and some things concerning her campaign. I tried my best to listen, but too many things, people, and places of which I knew nothing were mentioned, so I couldn't follow the conversation at all. I simply looked out the window and watched the bustling city pass by, filled with tons of things I didn't understand. It scared me a little, hearing so much about things I knew nothing about, but I couldn't afford to get scared. I was just going to have to learn best I can. Anastasia was counting on me after all.

"-o as for the Northern Delegation, I believe we should send about- "

"Excuse me, Madam. It appears we have arrived."

The carriage came to an abrupt stop and I, thanks to years of reckless driving from my parents, held my arm out steady Anastasia to make sure she didn't fall. She fell lightly forward, and although she probably wouldn't have fallen to the floor from that level of inertia, I was happy when she used my arm to stop her momentum and as a support to sit upright again. She gave me a smile that seemed to give me a silent "thank you", before answering Julius.

"I can tell. Well, alright then. We should get going then."

We all exited the carriage and I watched as it rode off down the street, probably to some private stables or something. As my eyes returned to where we had been dropped off, I saw the giant structure that was the Iron Fang Base. It was absolutely huge and was seemingly constructed entirely of wood and iron. There were very few windows, but multiple entrances and exits, with a good number of people mobbing to and from them. Both the Iron Fang's insignia and Anastasia's company's crest were displayed proudly on a number of banners attached to the front of the building. I was staring up in awe at the building for a what must have been a full minute before a soft hand grabbed mine. I looked down to see Anastasia with a bored expression on her face, right before she turned around and began pulling me towards one of the largest set of doors.

"I know you must be impressed, but we have work to do. We need to get you situated and up-to-date on the happening of both the campaign and the world as a whole. That being said, I can go sight-seeing with you later, once we have some spare time, of course."

She said that with her usual straight-face, albeit a slightly happier one than usual, but other than that, she seemed to be perfectly calm and confident in what she was saying. I, on the other-hand, was having a complete mental breakdown.

 _"_ _Wait. What!_ _ **What!**_ _Was she just offering to take me on a date!? Just the two of us!? Heck, even if it wasn't just the two of us, as long as it was only the puffballs and us, it would be Heavenly! Although, if it was Julius… I wouldn't want to imagine how awkward that would be… But back to the important stuff! A date with the girl of my dreams! I'm sure she would be even more beautiful than usual. Oh crap, I'd have to get some nice clothes. Good thing I've got some extra cash then. Oh, and not to mention I'd have to train a lot and get a lot stronger if I was going to even hope of ever getting to escort Anastasia alone. But obviously, if the reward was a date with Anastasia, an honest-to-God romantic date with this perfect woman, any suffering would be worth it. Ah, I could imagine it now. A peaceful beautiful day, warm skies, not a storm cloud in sigh- "_

My internal rant was interrupted by Anastasia suddenly stopping, causing me to nearly crash into her. I looked down at her, hoping to see what was wrong, but was greeted only by her staring calmly at someone in front of us. Her face had returned to her pleasant but emotionless expression that she put on during negotiations. I quickly turned to see who had broken up such a beautiful moment and disturbed Anastasia's peace. I was surprised to see that there were only two figures in the large reception room, other than our little group. One was a young woman, with long green hair, standing in the center of large reception room in a set of armor which appeared to be quite durable while not restricting movement too much. One of her hands rested on a sword that rested on her waist, and I immediately had the mental image of a shield ready in my head, in case I needed to protect Anastasia. The woman had another feminine figure next to her. This one appeared to be a cat demi human with light brown hair and large fluffy ears. She was wearing a white and blue dress and had a mischievous smirk on her face, in contrast to the serious expression that the other woman wore. There were a few moments of awkward silence, before Julius stepped forward and began to speak.

"Madam Crusch, it is a pleasure to see you again."

"Cut with the pleasantries Julius, I've no time for them right now. I'm here to speak with Anastasia. If all of you could leave us alone for a while, that would be wonderful."

Even Julius seemed somewhat surprised for a moment, before a calm smile returned to his face once more. Anastasia simply raised an eyebrow in curiosity, while the puffballs stared at the woman with distrust. I could feel anger rising within me as well, as I stared at the armored woman in front of us. From the situation, I could guess that she was a recognized knight or maybe even another Candidate for the throne, but the way she was acting just didn't seem right. She was too blunt, sounding as if she were forcing Anastasia and Julius to comply, and she seemed proud to be doing it as well.

"That would be fine. I assume Julius can join us. For protection, of course."

Anastasia answered in a heartbeat, not giving any of us the chance to intervene. I would have liked to object, but the second I opened my mouth to speak, I felt Anastasia lightly squeeze my hand. I looked at her for some kind of explanation, but she only gave me small smile that seemed to say "Later." and left no room for argument. She let go of my hand and walked towards the armored woman and her companion, with Julius following close by. They went into a hallway directly opposite the entrance to the room, and before I could look to see where they were headed, I could feel multiple pairs of furry paws grab me and pull me down a different hallway.

"Hey! Hold on a minute! W-Wait, I said Wait!"

My yelling finally got them to stop pulling on me and I fell to the ground holding my arm. Holy crap, were they strong. It felt like my arm nearly got pulled out of its socket. I kneeled down for a few seconds, catching my breath, before I stood up and did my best to glare at the puffballs who had dragged me out of there. Mimi looked like she didn't have a clue why I was angry (which she probably didn't) while Hetaro and the other furr-ball were doing their best to not look me in the eye.

"Okay. I am going to give you guys 10 seconds to explain."

The others seemed to shrink even further away from me. I sure hope I looked as angry as I felt, because I was currently _very_ cross with this situation. Just when I had gotten things in order and a plan was there, some random armored chick decided to show up and force Anastasia into some meeting or something. It was Hetaro who stepped forward and spoke up.

"Um… Listen Conor. That was one of the other Candidates for the throne. Crusch Karsten. She's known for her idealistic and blunt viewpoints on a broad range of topics. As you could see from her armor, she's also quite close to the nation's military. Her and Madam Hoshin have been at each other's throats since they met, even more so than with the other candidates. I know you're worried but the fact that she came here to talk to her is actually a decrease in the hostility's."

"Humph. I still think that the guards should have just thrown them out, right Mister?"

While I agreed with Mimi's sentiment, the news that Hetaro just told me was very important. If that was indeed another one of the candidates, then she was a prime target of other Great Spirits looking for a partner for the election. I was going to have to keep on the lookout for any suspicious behavior from her and those around her, in case I can find any sign of the intervention of a Great Spirit. Speaking of those around her…

"Who was the girl beside her? They don't seem related."

There were a few moments of silence and when I looked over I saw both Mimi and Hetaro, holding the third puff-ball's mouth shut as he seemed to be nearly laughing his butt off. I don't see what was so funny. The girl was way different from Crusch, even without the animal ears. Not to mention she was wearing a white dress! It's only natural to be suspicious of a person dressed like that being next to a woman like Crusch.

"What? What's so funny?!"

"It-It's just that, you know, that "girl" is a knight of Lugunica, and one of the strongest at that."

Wow. Well, I suppose with Julius and that girl there Anastasia will be safe enough. And if that Crusch is as serious about winning as she looked, she wouldn't do something as stupid as killing an opponent of hers in such a way that would leave no suspect other than her. I guess I could afford to stop worrying for a little while. I looked around and finally noticed that the hallway we were in was very similar if not identical to the hallway around the room where I was kept before.

 _"_ _Did they seriously leave my room so close to the entrance!? Man! I could have escaped anytime- wait. Scratch that. Giant demi-human guards."_

I sighed, both despairing about my past situations and worrying about my present ones. I had someone I could confide in and someone I could plan with, not to mention an incredible morale booster in Anastasia, but I still knew next to nothing about my power, this world, or my enemies. I needed to move past my past though, both on earth and my horrible experiences in this world. Anastasia's and countless other people's lives depended on me, I can't afford to fail or give up. Taking a deep breath, I focused and did my best to calm myself down. I then turned towards the Furrballs, who were still snickering at some inside joke, and snapped my fingers to grab their attention.

"Okay, listen guys! This is a mercenary base, right? So, you guys would have a place to train, correct?

Of course, I knew the answer to this, but I couldn't just tell them I knew about the inside of their base. That would be way too suspicious. It took a moment, but Mimi responded in an excited voice "Oh! Oh! Oh! 'Course we do mister! Just follow me!", before sprinting down the hallway in the direction of the training area. The other two puffballs and I could only do our best to follow her and eventually, after losing her in the winding hallways, Hetaro had to lead us there. We came upon the same pair of giant iron doors and the same two giant demi-human guards. Mimi was waiting, hands on her hips, with an annoyed look on her face.

"Gosh! You guys are so Slow! Come on!"

With that she had the guards open the doors and we all quickly shuffled inside. The inside was almost exactly as I remembered it, except there were far fewer people in here than before. We all were quickly ushered down the long stairways by Mimi and arrived at a small cleared field with a number of targets in the middle. I could see a small rack with a large assortment of different wooden weapons off to one side. Mimi quickly turned around and looked me straight in the eyes before saying:

"You want to train, right? Well, as long as you're here I'll make sure you're as fit as a fiddle and get you as good a fighter as you're gonna get, Mister!"

She seemed honestly excited and even threw her fist in the air after her declaration. Judging by the look on Hetaro's face though, this was not unordinary behavior for her. I did want to train to get stronger and if she was so excited who was I to refuse. I responded with a simple shrug, saying "Sure. I was just hoping to look around today and get my bearings, but since you offered, I'd love to." Mimi looked absolutely ecstatic at my acceptance, meanwhile Hetaro just pulled a book out of his cloak and sat down a little way away, reading with the other Fur ball, whose name I still hadn't gotten.

I walked over to the rack of practice weapons while Mimi started doing what I could only assume were some kind of special stretches, because she was moving all over the place really fast and jumping up and do… okay maybe she was just excited.

"Are you sure about this, Conor"

Hetaro was looking at me with a worried expression on his face. He seemed to think that I would hurt myself. I shook my head, assuring him that I would be fine. I get that Mimi was compulsive but she was a high-ranking member of the Iron Fang. I'm sure she would be perfectly reasonable with whatever training she came up with. With Hetaro now calmed down, I turned back towards the weapon rack.

I grabbed a short wooden practice sword, testing its weight. It was a little on the short side and was way too light, so I set that one down where I found it and reached for one a little bigger. This one felt much better and I swung back and forth a few times to get used to it. Judging from the excited squeal from Mimi, I had made the correct choice in practice weapon. I walked over to the clearing and watched as Mimi pulled a wooden staff, twirling it in murderous glee. A sudden sense of unnatural fear rose in me as Mimi walked towards me. As Mimi jumped at me, laughing like a madman, and Hetaro looked away, not wanting to be involved in what was about to happen, I remembered that they nearly dislocated my shoulder just by pulling on it. And now I was sparring with one of them.

 _"…_ _F*ck"_

/

It hurt…. Everything hurt… It might be nothing compared to when I got the soul stone implanted in me, but when a Furr Ball literally hit every part of my body except my "family jewels" (And thank God for that), I think I could describe what I was currently feeling as agony.

In my defense, I actually put up a good fight for the first 15 seconds or so. I managed to block her attacks a few times and even managed to swing at her once or twice, but after she hit me in the nose, essentially blinding me, it was just a never-ending rain of blunt blows to my body. I wasn't knocked out cold or anything but several seconds after I fell down, Mimi realized that I couldn't actually move anymore and stopped beating me to death with her staff. And, Seriously!? These little Furr-balls are so strong! I like to think I was in pretty good shape, and even Julius attested to my fitness. But I couldn't help but get absolutely wrecked by Mimi. I sighed as I realized that I had a **_very_** long way to go before I could actually protect Anastasia by myself. I shook my head to get the chorus of discouraging thoughts that popped into my head. I wasn't going to let any amount of difficulty or pain stop me from protecting Anastasia.

I cracked my eyes open to see where I had been taken after I was essentially rendered immobile by Mimi. I could remember Hetaro running over and scolding Mimi before all three of them began carrying me somewhere. It seemed like a relatively short trip so I was probably back to one of the rooms by the entrance much like the one I had been in when I was first here. And, as I opened my eyes, I nearly burst out laughing at the room. It was literally exactly the same. From the window, to the color of the bed-clothes, and even the specific placement of the sparse furniture. Of course, any mirth of the situation disappeared as flashes of memories came rushing back. I could see the scene replay in my head over and over again.

 _"_ _We should kill him immediately, Madam Hoshin. He is far too suspicious."_

 _"_ _We don't have any proof Julius. You can't kill a man who has been nothing but compliant and understanding to our rude demands just he's in a suspicious position."_

 _"_ _And that compliancy is worth more than the lives of Mimi and the others?!"_

 _…_

 _"_ _Ha! The culprit reveals his true colors. What's with that sad look. Was killing 500 not enough for you?!"_

 _"…_ _I don't want to die. Not like…"_

 _"_ _It's too late for apologies, you monster."_

I shook my head despite the pained protest from my bruised body. I couldn't let myself wallow in what happened in the past, nor could I allow it to change how I perceive what was happening at the moment. I slowly turned over and grabbed the glass of water that had been left next to me and took a few sips before setting it back down and lying on my back staring at the ceiling. I laid still for a short while, doing my best to get to sleep, before a series of quick taps, which gradually got louder, neared my door. I pulled myself up just in time to see the door slam open and Anastasia walk in looking anything but happy. She quickly locked her eyes on me and I could see her gaze soften a little when she saw me but once she looked over my current condition, which I guess must have been pretty terrible, she clicked her tongue in anger as she began walking over to me.

"I cannot believe this! I look away for five seconds and you've already gotten yourself beaten to a pulp."

As she pulled over the chair and sat down next to me, I couldn't help but feel slightly hurt at that comment. I thought I did okay for at least a little while there… Okay, no, I really suck. As she scooted herself closer to my bed, I noticed that she was not only angry, but she looked incredibly tired. I didn't however, have time to ask about that as she started interrogating me before I could say anything.

"So, what exactly were you thinking?

"Um… Well, you were busy and it was late afternoon, so I was planning on getting some training in…"

"Hm, and in this training, you decided to spar against Mimi of all people. I mean you could have done worse but… listen just don't do anything stupid like that again, okay? It was really hard to not leave the meeting the second that Hetaro informed me of this."

Oh. I didn't even think about how this might have affected her. Of course, it would throw a wrench in any meeting to have a guest suddenly injured under your aide's supervision. Guilt began forming in my gut as I imagined that Crusch woman using such an event against Anastasia in whatever negotiations they were having. I quickly tried to speak up but before I could even get a word out, Anastasia interrupted me with:

"Don't. I'm not mad at you nor is this in anyway your fault. You were just trying to make the best use of your time and ended up getting hurt because you didn't know how strong Mimi was. I _am_ mad at that insufferable woman, Crusch Karsten, right now. The nerve of her! Acting as if my business ventures interfering with the publics opinion was unfair. Of course, it's fair! If I bring more benefit to the country than her than I should be the one to rule it, after all."

I couldn't help but laugh at her outburst, albeit it hurt a good deal, but I laughed anyway. She was pouting slightly and grew red in the face when she saw I was laughing. She batted my arm and "humph*-ed while looking away from me, but I could tell that she wasn't actually angry. It was very refreshing to see her out of her usual business-mode and instead relax and have fun. Seeing her so carefree and happy made me forget about all the stress and even the pain of the bruises for a moment. _"Man."_ I thought to myself _"If this is my life from now on. Dying over and over will totally be worth it."_

In all seriousness, though, what she said made sense. If she, as the leader of a merchant company, brought profit to the country due to her position and connections, the it was perfectly fair for people to vote for her based on the increased profit. It sounded as if Ms. Karsten was attempting to twist the idea of "fairness" to fit her campaign. Hetaro made it sound as if her campaign was based more off of an ideal than profits, so immediate profit would be quite the danger to the momentum of Crusch's campaign. I decided to not bring up though, because I felt as if Anastasia needed to relax. So instead, I went with random topic #17.

"So, Anastasia how do you feel about rain?"

Well, my plan worked. After I asked her that she seemed like any thought of work completely left her mind as she became utterly confused at my question. While I was honestly curious about the answer, it was more important that I got her mind off of work. She seemed way too tired. It took her a few moments to answer but eventually answered, rather tentatively:

"I don't dislike it per say. I really do enjoy walking around under an umbrella when it's raining lightly. But, I dislike really dislike storms that have lots of thunder and lightning. Not because I'm scared or anything! I'm just not able to relax around it."

I began laughing again, much to her indignation. She scoffed slightly at me, though I could see a small smile tugging at her lips. I was actually really happy at her answer as I felt quite similarly. I had lots of relatives in Ireland so I got to visit there quite often and I fell in love with the weather there. I would be lying if I said I wasn't imagining her and I getting a home in Ireland. It had always been my dream okay!? Getting married and buying a small little house in the Irish countryside. What could be better than that? And now I had met the girl of my dreams so of course that kind of thing was gonna pop into my head with her as the wife. Still though, I can't afford to be blinded by dreams that probably weren't gonna happen. Sadly, I decided to get back to more… serious topics.

"I do need to train Anastasia, so I'd appreciate it if you could help set me up with a more realistic trainer."

Though the cheerful and relaxing mood disappeared when I said that, her smile didn't and she answered calmly, albeit more seriously than before.

"Of course, I already have a person in mind."

Great! I hope it's a demi-human so I can maybe learn a little more about them. However, what she said next caused the color to drain from my face.

"I'm gonna have Ricardo train you. Oh, you don't know him yet, though do you?"

Oh…. Oh, I do Anastasia… I sure do…. By the way, I'd like you to speak the eulogy at my funeral…

"Oh, and I think I'll have Julius help us well!"

She looked so happy and pleased with herself that I managed to force myself to smile. And say:

"Really? Yay…."

I wasn't going to survive, was I?

/

 ** _Wow. So first off thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Second, I am so sorry this took so long to get out. And don't worry, I already have plans for the next chapter so hopefully it will be up soon. Thirdly, as always, please Favorite and Follow if you enjoyed and want to see more. And if you have any specific feedback, whether it be a complaint, concern, or question, please feel free to leave a review._**


	10. Bricks and hands don't mix

Anastasia and I talked for a short while longer, but he eventually got up, saying that she should probably let me get some sleep. Our goodbye's seemed pleasant enough, and most importantly not awkward, and I hope that she thought so too. Hopefully, she couldn't see how tightly I was gripping the side of my pants under the blankets as she left, the news she had given me having terrified me beyond belief. The moment she left I dove to the bedside table and chugged down the water left in the glass. After having chugged the entire glass, I slammed it down and flopped onto my back, breathing heavily.

"I… am going to die. They are going to kill me."

Anastasia told me that I was going to train under Ricardo of all people. Not to mention, apparently, Julius was going to be stopping by to "help" occasionally. She seemed happy about the arrangement and I just couldn't bring myself to disappoint her, so I didn't say a word in complaint. Well, "I had made my bed, now I was going to have to sleep in it" as the saying goes. I mean seriously though, as scary as Ricardo was, he seemed nice to people he got along with so maybe it won't be so bad. With a more determined outlook on my training, I fell asleep.

/

"Come on, kid! **Dodge!** "

 _"_ I'm trying, you sadistic a-AH!"

I let out a rather un-manly scream as another brick flew past my head. I had just barely managed to dive to the side and I quickly rushed up and continued running around the cleared circle. I was dressed in some simple white pants and a grey tunic which were supposed to "Help us see if you're bleeding, crying, or relieving yourself." As Ricardo had put it.

Speaking of the psychotic captain, I looked over to the center of the circle where Ricardo stood, hefting a heavy stone about the size of my head. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of leather pants with his giant sword laying against a wall nearby. He was surrounded by varied objects nearby, ranging from a pillow to a large iron discus, which he was using as projectiles to add difficulty to my "laps". As I jumped over another rock thrown my way, I remembered how I got into this situation.

/

Blankness. A peaceful existence where I wasn't bothered by a care in the world. A dreamless existence, no disturbances or stressors in any way shape or for-

"GOOD MORNING!"

"AHH!"

The sudden greeting scared me so much that I shotstraight up in bed, a little line of drool hanging out of my mouth. I was stunned for a few seconds but I quickly recognized a loud and booming sound coming from nearby.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! What are you doing, kid? Aren't you up yet?"

The sudden noise next to my ear left my head swimming and I couldn't even see straight but that bellowing laugh and raucous voice was unmistakable.

"You're Ricardo, aren't you?"

"Yep! But wait, aren't you new here? How do you know about me?"

Crap! I let my foreknowledge slip without thinking. I needed to cover for this fast. Think Conor think! What's a good excuse?

"Uh… Anastasia told me about you!"

He seemed to think for a moment before shrugging his gigantic shoulders and chuckling.

"I guess she would do that, wouldn't she? You guys do seem pretty close, so that makes sense."

"You think we seem close?! Wait, like how close? You don't think we're dat-AHHH"

I couldn't help but let out a scream as my arm, which was already bruised and battered by Mimi yesterday, nearly got ripped out of its socket by Ricardo lifting me up by my wrist and running out the door, with me in tow.

He ran down the hallway, laughing and reciting some kind of sea shanty in a language I didn't recognize, as I was pulled along behind him on the floor. My bruised body flared up in pain and my ribs and back in particular became the center of a lot of the pain as they were the parts of me which bounced on the ground the most.

I had no idea where we were going but when I was thrown from his grasp and landed roughly on my side a few meters away from him onto some soft dirt, I figured we were at our destination.

"Well, kid. This is the place! The great Iron fang training fields!... Though I guess you already came here yesterday, didn't ya?"

I could only groan in response as my entire body screamed out in pain.

 _"_ _First Mimi, now this! I'm not going to live long enough for me to improve at all!"_

As I struggled to remain conscious, I heard Ricardo come up behind me and place his head behind mine. I could feel his foul breath cloud the air around me and I tasted the distinct scent of raw meat on the air. I couldn't stop myself from instinctively crawling away from the smell, something about it triggering a primeval instinct in me which told me to **"Get Away"** , allowing me to move when I really shouldn't.

As I struggled to sit up against a nearby tree, I could hear Ricardo laughing as he watched me struggle.

"You really did get the crap beat out of you yesterday, huh? Guess I can go easy on you for one day."

 _"_ _Oh, thank God! Maybe he'll just stick to some light calisthenics. Yeah!"_

"So, let's just stick to about 40 laps under light fire, all right? I won't even throw any spears, how's that sound?"

 _"…_ _What?"_

 _/_

He had then proceeded to explain what these "laps" were, with me dying on the inside with each sentence, and after he was done he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and dragged me to the circular field. I wasn't even given a minute of rest before the rocks started flying.

I had run pretty slowly at first, more of a jog really, but once he started throwing things I picked up the pace a lot, despite the intense pain that erupted in my lungs and chest. I would have kept jogging in any other situation, but rocks being thrown at your face tends to give you quite the adrenaline rush and was a great source of inspiration.

"God, You're slow! What are you, my grandma?!"

"Given how strong you are, that's a **_bloody complement!_** _"_

Another thing that had developed was a unique from of banter that consisted of him insulting me and me, not refuting what he insulted about me, but instead showing how his insult was stupid and sometimes even insulting him. Essentially, he was insulting me and I was being salty, sassy, and sarcastic.

As I rounded my 27th lap, I noticed a number of people watching us. They were still mostly demi-humans and were generally standing a good way away and looked at me with nothing but raw pity in their eyes. Judging by their expressions, they are probably subject to similar ordeals at times.

 _I guess I'm not alone in this fight, huh?"_

As I finished that thought, a brick flew out of Ricardo's hand and smashed into my hand. I could feel a number of sickening cracks before the pain ripped into my mind, blocking all other thoughts out. I let out a shout as I fell to the ground, cradling my hand. I could barely see it through the painful haze in my vision, but what I saw was not pleasant.

The brick had not hit my hand, but instead had actually smashed into wrist and lower arm. I could see blood pouring out of where the brick had shattered my wrist femur and some mangled pieces of bone jutted out at odd angles. My hand was hanging limp and I could see red splotches appearing where it had broken bones in my hand as well.

I could feel myself hyperventilating and barely even noticed some people running over until Ricardo knelt down by me, a look of actual worry quite clear on his face. He didn't seem to be panicking but he genuinely seemed shocked by what had happened.

" _Wasn't he the one who threw it?"_

I could barely even think due to the pain and I could feel myself panicking more and more as blood continued to come out of the wounds. I did my best to stop myself from crying or screaming, but I couldn't hold in some of the tears that rolled down my face, nor the constant groan that I let out as I struggled to remain conscience.

I could hear muffled voices through the pain and could have sworn I saw a certain knight come running in, but it turned out to only be a regular person, a young man, with a green and white cloak on. He was carrying a large box and quickly rushed over to my side and opened the box. He appeared to be a medic as he pulled out a number of tools from the box; things such as bandages, a few vials, stitches, and some needle and thread.

I was offered a rag to bite down on and I did so quickly, knowing full well what was coming next. I nearly screamed as a he poured some liquid, most likely a purifying or antibacterial agent of some kind, onto my hand and arm. I was thankful for a number of hands which suddenly held me down as my body thrashed out instinctively. I could feel the man grabbing the wounded hand and doing something with it, probably moving bones back, but I honestly felt no increase in pain, probably because I was already in as much pain there as I could be.

I was wrong. The man had been using a small knife to open up the cuts to allow for the bones to reenter, he hadn't yet moved them. I managed to catch a glimpse of the man as he grabbed onto the end of one of small bones jutting out of my hand. I watched in agony as he pushed the bone back into place. I screamed out as the pain jolted through my entire arm, somehow making me feel worse than I already did. My entire body seemed to scream in protest even though the bone was being pushed back into place.

As the man continued to do this, with my screaming in pain the entire time, the pain I felt while receiving the soul stone was much worse but at least it ended in a moment. With this pain, I couldn't escape, it just kept boring into my mind and making my body writhe.

Eventually, the mans seemed pleased with how many bones had been put back in and quickly bandaged up my hand and wrist. The rag in my mouth was quickly replaced and I could faintly see some blood along with a lone tooth in the old one's folds. I must have bitten down so hard that I dislodged a tooth. If I hadn't been in such pain, I probably would've been sad about losing a tooth, but all I could think of was how much my arm hurt.

As I cradled my broken appendage, I could feel a pair of arms lift me up and begin carrying me. I was pressed into a furry wall of muscle, which was surprisingly comfy and briefly thought:

"Not again…."

… before finally passing out in Ricardo's arms.

/

Blankness. An anxious existence where I wasn't connected to a single person, place, or thing. A thoughtless existence. no emotion or feeling in the entirety of the wor-

"GOOD MORNING!"

"AHH!"

I nearly leapt out of the bed I was lying in, instinctively moving away from the loud noise. As I moved however, my body suddenly tensed up in sore pain and I fell weakly off the side of the bed with a soft thump. I was slightly dazed for a few seconds, but a figure that I soon recognized as Ricardo rounded the bed and helped me up. He looked slightly embarrassed and seemed to be apologizing for scaring me as he set me back on the bed. I was about to tell him not to worry about it, I didn't want him to be angry or resentful towards me during training, after all.

But as I raised my hand to wave his numerous apologies off, I felt a slight phantom pain. It was just for a moment, but as I raised my hand I felt a jarring sting in my wrist and my eyes were brought towards my wrist at the sudden pain. I was confused for a moment or two.

 _"_ _What the heck was that?"_

However, as I looked closer at my hand, taking into account it's perfect health except for a few bruises, I began to feel a tightness in my stomach, an innate sense that something was wrong. My eyes widened as images of my hand mangled and limp popped back into my head and I couldn't help but put my other hand to my head as I remembered the pain. Ricardo looked at me, worry etched on his face as I grimaced when I realized exactly what had happened.

I had died. And now I was back.

Again.

/

 ** _Wow. So, Conor just cannot catch a break, can he? Well, this makes it more fun and it wouldn't be a Re: zero fanfic without brutal injuries and disappointing and sudden death. Anyhow, sorry for the slightly shorter chapter than normal, I just wanted to hit a pretty good cliffhanger. As always, I hoped you enjoyed and please favorite and follow if you enjoyed and want to see more. As for reviews, all are welcome and I encourage you to be as brutally honest as possible._**

 ** _On a side note (well not really a side not, just not the main message), I am hoping to start a new main project besides the "Blade" stories and I just wanted to hear any feedback you all might have. It would be a RWBY crossover with Guilty Crown (My favorite Anime!) from Shu's perspective as he inherits the "Guilty Crown" or "King" semblance and gets dragged into a century long battle to keep the world of Remnant safe. He has to learn how to fight as a fully-fledged Huntsman at Beacon while also learning the inner workings of his semblance and learning to work with the other students at Beacon. I don't have a name for it yet, but if I start posting it, it would most likely be my main project for a time. I would appreciate any and all feedback, but please PM me instead of leaving it in a review for this story. That could get confusing._**


	11. Hello

Hey guys! I'm sorry for the lack of updates for this story recently but I just can't seem to get anything down. I'll start writing the next chapter and it just will not come out as I need it to. I know this is a rather amateur-ish story(It is my first public work, after all) but I really feel as though any of the new chapters I tried to write would be so bad, it would be an insult to you awesome readers.

Speaking of which, I just want to take a second to thank all of you for your awesome support and reviews for this little story of mine. I really appreciate it. This story has picked up far more followers than I thought it would, especially given the small Re:zero fan-base on this website. So thank you guys so much for everything.

And it's because of these difficulties that I have to say that I am going to be putting "Blade of Hope" on hiatus. I won't be making new chapters anytime soon, if ever, unless an incredible moment of inspiration hits me. And If I ever did come back to the story, I would most likely start by re-writing all of the earlier chapters first. I am completely open to someone coming along and picking this story up, so I won't delete it, however I will be deleting my other two stories, as they have received almost no support and my inspiration for them has run dry.

This s not to say that I will stop writing as a whole. The opposite in fact. My plans for the Guilty Crown X RWBY crossover story are going forward full steam ahead and I even have a Beta! GuiltyKingOumaShu, possibly one of the best writer's I have found on this site and the person who inspired me to start writing here, is going to be helping me write this work. I am incredibly excited to start writing it and I hope to be able to post the first chapter in under a month. However, I will be focusing a lot on quality of both writing and storytelling with this fanfiction, so updates may be very slow at times, but the content should hopefully make it worth it. So, once again, thank you all for supporting "Blade of Hope" thus far, and please support my future works. I love you guys!

Yours Truly,

Chronicle of Hope


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